You'd make a lovely corpse
by space-cadet6
Summary: Another entry into the overused Saiyuki High School AU category! 500 years later Sanzo, Hakkai, Goku and Gojyo once again become inextricably entangled in each other's lives.
1. Default Chapter

**_Okay, this is my very first try at a Saiyuki Fanfic. Generally I don't like using someone elses characters, but the Saiyuki boys are so cute I just had too. They may appear a little OOC, but hopefully not too much. Point any grammar errors out to me, and if anyone is willing to beta, please contact me! (I need it!) _**

**_Disclaimer- I do not own any of these characters. _**

Entering the brick building that was his new school Cho Hakkai smiled suddenly, feeling an unexplainable happiness.

"We have a new student today, everyone please welcome him." The teacher gestured for the dark haired boy to sit down, and he did so, choosing a desk in the back, next to a small boy with his head on the desk, apparently sleeping. His head lifted, revealing huge golden eyes partly shielded by uncombed brown hair.

"Hi." Hakkai whispered to the other boy.

"Hello. You're new here?" Hakkai nodded. "Oh, my names Goku."

"I'm Hakkai." Goku blinked and then nodded, resting his head on the desk once again.

Hakkai walked down the hall, trying to figure out where his next class was located. He saw Goku rush past him, and then after a large group of mean looking boys, apparently after the weak looking Goku. He quickened his pace and saw the boys walking, but no Goku in sight. Soon after Goku crept out from behind a garbage can and looked around.

"They bother you often?" Goku's head swiveled, and he stared at Hakkai with his disconcertingly honest eyes.

"Umm. Not really. Not as much as some kids, because of Sanzo." Goku's whole demeanor changed when he said the name, his eyes brightened and he straightened.

"Sanzo?" The name was strange to him, but still rolled easily off Hakkai's tongue.

"Mmmmn Hmmmn. He'll be in the hallway in a minute, do you want me to show him to you?" Without waiting for an answer Goku took Hakkai's hand and pulled him into a little niche, where they would be invisible to those walking. Soon a group of teens started walking down the hall, all congregated around one boy who didn't seem to be talking. His golden hair fell into amazingly violet eyes, and he didn't seem to notice everyone around him. Well, he didn't seem to notice them except for the slight twitching in his right temple.

"Which ones Sanzo?" Hakkai thought he knew already, but asked Goku anyways.

"The one in the middle." Hakkai nodded and glanced at the boy next to him, it was obvious that Goku was head over heals in love with what looked like the schools most popular person. Judging from Goku's stained clothes and generally ragged appearance, he wasn't going to get into this "Sanzo's' gang of friends easily.

"Sanzo watching again monkey?" Hakkai spun around at the voice; he had been unaware that anyone was coming up behind them. Goku didn't seem surprised and said almost mechanically, while still watching the procession,

"Shuddup Gojyo." Hakkai felt himself staring at the boy; he had shoulder length red hair, his eyes the same color.

"Hey, you the new student?" Hakkai was so entranced at staring at the boy's remarkable hair and eye color that he took a minute to answer,

"Uh, yes," The boy blinked at him and then shrugged, peering down the hallway where the little entourage had already disappeared.

"I don't know why you like him so much monkey. I mean, he's hot and all, but his personalities lacking." Goku then turned his undivided attention to Gojyo.

"Don't talk that way about Sanzo!" Gojyo shrugged and then grabbed Goku's arm and peeled back some of the cloth from his shirt, revealing a dark bruise.

"Shit Goku! What the hell happened this time?" Goku shrugged nonchalantly and snatched his hand away.

"I fell that's all." Gojyo exchanged a glance with Hakkai; the bruise had been large and painful looking. The bell rang, making Hakkai jump.

"I'm late!" Neither Goku nor Gojyo seemed to be worried about this, and Gojyo said easily.

"What class do you have next?"

"Gym, can you direct me to it?" Goku looked about too, but then Gojyo intervened,

"Hey, don't go to gym. There's nothing there anyways, and no one cares if you skip." Hakkai looked reluctant, but allowed himself to be pulled along by both the other boys. They stopped at an outer wall, and Gojyo took out a cigarette and inhaled deeply. He grinned at Hakkai disarmingly and commented,

"Only been here one day and already you're gotten together with a bad group."

"What do you mean?" Gojyo thought for a minute,

"Well, take Goku. He's failing all his classes, doesn't come to class often, and follows Sanzo around all day long." Goku looked a little insulted, but was busy drawing on the pavement with a piece of broken chalk, so he refrained from commenting. "And then there's me." He didn't go elaborate, and Hakkai didn't ask him too. They stayed there for a couple minutes in companionable silence, until Goku yelped,

"Sanzo!" The blonde was leaning against the adjoining wall, pushing back his hair and lighting up.

"The appearance of the almighty prick. Just what we needed." Goku had run over to Sanzo, which surprised Hakkai a little, since his crush seemed like one from afar.

"Err…" Hakkai watched as Goku started talking animatedly, with Sanzo completely ignoring him. "Do they even know each other?" Gojyo looked a little surprised, but answered,

"Yeah. They both live in the same apartment or something." Hakkai nodded and watched for a moment.

"It doesn't seem like Sanzo likes Goku much." Gojyo shrugged.

"I don't think you can tell anything with that blonde. If you based who he liked on how he acts towards them, then there's nobody he cares about." They were both more then a little startled when a voice cut them off.

"Will you stop talking for a minute you damn monkey!" Sanzo seemed to have had enough of Goku's incessant tirade and yelled. Both Hakkai and Gojyo looked at Goku, expecting him to be crestfallen, but he was grinning like a maniac and tugging at Sanzo's sleeve. The only words they could make out from Goku's mouth were, "Food, hungry, starving,"

"I think Sanzo's about to go insane." Sanzo simply stared down at Goku and then walked away, without saying a single word.

"Sanzo! C'mon!" Goku followed him, pleading for more substance.

"They're quite the odd couple." Gojyo watched them leaving and turned back to Hakkai. "So, where you staying?" Hakkai blinked at the sudden change in topic but answered evenly.

"At a youth hostel near here."

"That's gotta be hard." Hakkai shrugged and smiled,

"It's okay." He didn't say anything else, and for the first time his smile seemed slightly strained.

"Well. I guess I better get going then." Gojyo left Hakkai staring at the wall with a slightly sad expression.

**_So that's the first chapter... Was it okay? Review and it will continue at a very fast pace!_**


	2. Chapter 2

_Extra long chapter to make up for my slowness at updating! Reviews are welcome! Just a little note here, I just watched disk 11 of the regular Saiyuki series, and I'm very angry at a certain Sanzo... He should have hugged Goku... That's obviously what he should have done... Goku was being so cute, and Sanzo was just being an idiot! So, if seem to harbor any rage... you know why... _

**Koto Juri**- _Thanks so much! Yayay! I got a review!_

**Azamiko**- _Oh dear... I have an explanation for why he's going... I think... Oh yes! I do! Gym is last set, and since he skipped it, he figured why not just go home? Thanks for reviewing!_

**theamazinghollowgirl**- _Thanks for taking your time and reviewing! I love Saiyuki to death! _

**Disclaimer- None of these characters belong to me.**

"Hey!" Goku immediately arrived at Hakkai's desk, smiling broadly. "Good morning!" Hakkai smiled at him.

"Good morning. As he looked at Goku closer he noticed something decidedly odd. He had a bruise over the right side of his face, and it hadn't been there the previous day. "What happened?" Goku adopted a mildly puzzled expression,

"What do you mean?" Hakkai touched the right side of his face and instantly Goku's fingers touched his own face.

"That's quite a bruise. What happened?" Goku shrugged,

"I fell down." Hakkai's expression grew incredulous,

"Again?"

"Yep." The bell rang for the first real class and Goku bounded away oblivious to Hakkai's troubled expression. The next class Hakkai had was English and he headed towards it, still a little unsure of where he was going. Once he arrived he set his bag down next to a desk in the back of the classroom and waited for the class to begin. It did shortly and the teacher was in the middle of a lengthy lecture when the door opened. The blonde Hakkai had seen the previous night with Goku walked in, untroubled by his blatant lateness.

"Mr. Sanzo, a pleasure to have you in our class." This was said with no sarcasm, and the teacher seemed to be genuinely happy he was there.

"Ch." Sanzo took the only vacant seat in the class, the one next to Hakkai, and glanced over at the brown haired boy. The look had no dislike, but no friendliness either, and it slightly unnerved Hakkai.

"We're going to do the project we discussed at the beginning of the class now, and I'm going to split you into pairs." The class groaned, upset that they hadn't gotten to chose their own partners.

"Tabitha and Jeremy, Michelle and David, Ian and Marcy, Ricky and Phillip." She went on till there was only two people in the class unpaired, Sanzo and Hakkai. "And you two." Hakkai moved his desk closer to the other boy,

"I guess I'm your partner." Sanzo didn't reply. "So, how about you write down all the formulas and I'll start working on the research." If possible, Hakkai thought the other boy looked a little troubled,

"Can you write?"

"I have to write for researching too…" Sanzo nodded abruptly.

"Never mind, I'll write." He took a pen out of his bag and started copying the formulas down in a jerky fashion. Regularly his hand would seem to go out of his control, and he would start the sentence over again, his face never betraying whatever he was thinking. Hakkai, under the pretense of researching watched this and came to the conclusion that something must be wrong with his right arm, which he seemed to be holding rather stiffly, and that it hadn't been there the previous day where he had lit his cigarette without difficulty.

"Is something wrong with your arm?" Sanzo shook his head and continued writing, leaving Hakkai to stare when blood started to seep through his long sleeved shirt.

"Dammit." Sanzo noticed the rapidly appearing stains and got up, walking out of the room without saying a word. Hakkai saw several of the girls in the class watching him intently. He stood up and followed Sanzo, asking the teacher on his way out,

"My partner left for a moment, can I go get a drink till he comes back?" He didn't wait for the teachers nod, and turned the door handle just in time to see Sanzo disappearing into the boy's bathroom. Once he opened the door to the room he didn't see what he expected too, instead Sanzo was leaning against the wall, doing nothing even though the blood had overtaken his entire upper arm.

"Can I see your arm?" Sanzo glanced up,

"It's fine." Hakkai ignored him and stepped forward, pulling his sleeve up to reveal part of the wound. His entire arm was bruised and swollen, and starting at his elbow a bandage now stained wit copious amounts of blood was tied clumsily. Hakkai unraveled the bandage, narrowing his eyes at the long wound that had cut through Sanzo's arm.

"What do you plan on doing?" Sanzo stated the obvious; Hakkai had no bandages or other supplies with him,

"I plan on healing it." Hakkai concentrated and a green ball of energy appeared in his palm. It flowed into Sanzo's arm and the cut closed, while the bruising gradually reduced to next to nothing. After he was done Hakkai looked down at the slightly shorter boy, who simply nodded and then brushed his hair back.

"Wait here for a minute." Hakkai watched Sanzo leave and then tensed slightly, expecting Sanzo to bring some sort of authority figure who would doubtless question him. Instead a moment later Sanzo appeared scowling slightly, with a thrilled Goku behind him. He cut to the chase and said bluntly,

"Can you heal him too?"

"It depends what's wrong with him." At that moment the bathroom door swung open again and Gojyo appeared.

"What are you doing three doing together?" He was smiling slightly, which made Sanzo scowl even more,

"Nothing that concerns you." Gojyo's smile widened,

"Oh yeah?" As Gojyo continued to bait the blonde, Hakkai's patience was wearing thin.

"Sanzo, we need to get to work on our project, so if you could tell me what's wrong with Goku?" Sanzo knelt and pulled Goku's baggy pants up to the knee, revealing a deep scratch that was better bandaged then Sanzo's, but still seeping blood.

"Jesus! Monkey, what the hell happened to you?" Goku shifted nervously,

"I fell down." Both Hakkai and Gojyo rolled their eyes, but Hakkai stooped down and began healing, making both Gojyo and Goku's eyes widen to the size of saucers.

"Hell Hakkai, how did you do that?" Hakkai shrugged, and threw the now useless bandage away.

"Anything else?" Goku coughed and then said in a small voice,

"Uh, I have a cut right here." He pointed to his stomach.

"Okay then, pull up your shirt." Goku did so and then looked around for Sanzo, who was lighting up his cigarette next to the air vent so the alarm didn't go off. Hakkai took a good look at the shallow but long wound and then said,

"T his might be easier if you lay down and I kneel. This kinda drains my energy." Goku did so and Hakkai started to use his healing power on Goku. The door opened again, and a boy walked in, almost unaware of what he was seeing for a moment. Gojyo recognized him as the football team's captain, and then looked at Hakkai and Goku, who were both in a very compromising situation. Hakkai, seemingly realizing backed away, and Goku, now healed, sat up.

"Errr." Hakkai glanced at the boy, who was sneering in a most unpleasant way. "This isn't what you think." The boy stepped out of the room, leaving them to look at each other,

"What do you think he thought he saw?" Gojyo asked Hakkai, seeing that Goku had no idea what was going on. Hakkai blushed slightly and shook his head,

"I don't know but I can imagine." Goku shrugged,

"Hey, thanks Hakkai! Sanzo, Sanzo?" Sanzo finished his cigarette and stepped out from behind the small niche.

"What?"

"I'm hungry Sanzo!" Goku grabbed Sanzo's sleeve and withdrew it quickly when his hand was stained with the blood that was on the dark fabric.

"Did Hakkai heal you too Sanzo?" Goku asked.

"Ch." Goku took this as an affirmative and then asked,

"Did he heal the slash on your hip too?" Sanzo glared daggers at the boy, who swallowed heavily and stepped back.

"Something else wrong with you?" Hakkai asked.

"Nothing major." Hakkai shook his head and smiled,

"But even the smallest cuts can lead to infection. It's best if I just heal it now, don't you think Gojyo?" Gojyo smirked at Sanzo,

"Yeah, yeah, definitely." Sanzo looked at the three around him and then slightly tugged his jeans down and lifted the corner of his shirt. The wound was completely covered in now red bandages and Hakkai moved forward to unravel it.

"Fuck man!" Gojyo stared at the gapping cut, where Sanzo's bones were all too clearly visible. Even Hakkai seemed slightly taken aback,

"How did, how did you get this?" Sanzo shrugged, and Gojyo was amazed at the blonde's tolerance for pain, in fact the only sign he gave that anything was wrong was the way his fingers were clenched on the sink, his fingers turning white.

"You must know." Hakkai pressed on while summoning a ball of healing energy and directing it at the cut.

"What's it matter to you?" Hakkai was concentrating on the wound, and slowly it sewed itself up. Sanzo's fingers relaxed their grip as it healed and once Hakkai had pronounced it finished he pulled down his shirt.

"Anything else?" Hakkai asked,

"No." Gojyo grinned again at the blonde,

"I don't know if we can trust him. After all, he said that thing was nothing major. I think the only way to tell for sure is to take off all his clothes." Hakkai almost laughed at the look Sanzo was giving Gojyo, and then cleared his throat.

"I think we're done then." Goku was washing the blood that he had gotten off Sanzo's shirt, making Hakkai think,

"Wait, your clothes are all bloody, you can't go back to class like that." Sanzo muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "the hell I can't." and turned to Gojyo,

"I know you keep knives on you, hand one over." Gojyo stared hard at Sanzo and then produced a slim blade from his sleeve. Sanzo took it wordlessly and hacked off his sleeves mechanically, throwing the bloodied rags into the trash. He started to give the knife to Goku and then thought again and trimmed Goku's pants, reducing them to ragged shorts. He gave Gojyo back the knife and then walked out of the bathroom, leaving the other three to go back to their respective classrooms. After Sanzo and Hakkai were back in their desks, waiting for the bell to ring, that Sanzo said something,

"Thanks." The word sounded odd coming out of his mouth, as though he had used it rarely.

"No problem." Hakkai smiled to himself, and then his smile widened as he noticed the gaggle of girls in the corner pointing to Sanzo's hacked off sleeves.


	3. Chapter 3

_Okay then! I have this urge to tell you everything that I'm planning to write, but I think it'll be more fun if I just keep updating…right? Please review! This chapter is a little sloppier then the others, but I promise the next installment will be quick, and hopefully that will be up to standards again! _

The next day started off far from pleasant, beginning in homeroom, where their usual teacher had been struck by a sudden illness, and hadn't gotten a substitute, so the class was left to it's own.

"Hi Hakkai!" Goku seemed as chipper as always, but his smile faltered slightly as the boy from before and a beefed up group of his friends surrounded his desk.

"Hey, you going to sneak off to the bathroom again with your boyfriend?" The boy kicked Goku's shin hard as he pointed to Hakkai.

"That's not very polite." Hakkai spoke through gritted teeth. The boy laughed, a very stupid sound.

"Since when do gays care about being polite?" Goku blinked at the word, but got the direct hostility of the tone,

"You have a problem with me?" He stood up, slightly after Hakkai had done so. He glanced at the brunette and added, "You got a problem with us?" Hakkai almost laughed, Goku clearly had no idea what he was implying.

"Actually, I don't, but my friend here have some minor issues. Nothing a few broken bones won't fix." Goku smiled eagerly,

"You want to fight?" Hakkai could have sworn the other boy was thrilled.

"Duh." Hakkai noticed the door opening and Gojyo strode over to them, his red hair catching his gaze once again. That was the last thing he saw before narrowly avoiding a boy's fist, and thirty seconds of frantic fighting, ten against three, and then they were done. Once finished they looked at the considerable damage. One of the windows had been smashed, two of the boys had blood streaming down their faces, four were immobile, and one lay twitching in the corner.

"This is bad." Quickly over five teachers arrived, including the vice principle and principle himself. Hakkai prepared himself for immediate expulsion from the school, when one cool voice spoke amongst the horrified silence.

"I take full responsibility for all their actions. Any damage done can be billed to my residence, as well as their medical fee's." The blonde looked as though he were deadly bored, but was looking straight into the principles eyes as he spoke in a deadpan voice.

"I, I, all right, but if this happens again," The principle trailed off as Sanzo's violet eyes challenged his muddy brown ones.

"Fine." Go back to your classes." Hakkai thought that Sanzo was speaking to them, but his mouth opened as the teachers hurried to obey his words, scurrying out of the room, the principle leaving last. Sanzo turned on his heel and left them, and they glanced at each other, deciding to follow in the end. They followed him outside, where he was no longer calm, but furious, all but sending out sparks.

"When you play your little games, could you leave Goku out of it!" Hakkai was startled, but Gojyo was the one who spoke,

"What the hell! It's not our fault you had that little group in the bathroom last night, and now everyone thinks we're gay! Well, everyone except you, cause you were too busy getting your nicotine!"

"Ch. It's your own fault you got into that fight you moron." Sanzo no longer seemed so enraged, and walked away from them.

"Hey Sanzo, where ya going?" Goku called after his retreating form.

"To class you imbecile." He disappeared inside the building. Goku followed him eagerly, chatting incessantly, leaving Gojyo and Hakkai alone.

"So, how do you think they really got those marks?" Gojyo smiled in his disarming way, making Hakkai feel more comfortable then he had since his parent's died.

"I don't know. I thought it may have been Goku's parent's, but then Sanzo is just as injured, they live in the same apartment right?" Gojyo nodded, "Well, then maybe it's their landlord?" Gojyo thought for a moment and then spoke,

"I don't know. It'd have to be a majorly amped up landlord to get through Goku; did you see how he fought? And Sanzo, well I just can't see him being bullied by anyone." Hakkai nodded in agreement.

"Then what's happening to them?" Neither of them had an answer, but eventually Hakkai spoke again,

"How did he take command like that? He's just a student after all."

"And he's got to be rich to take responsibility for all the medical fee's and the damage. He wasn't even involved in the fight." Hakkai pondered this for a moment, forcing himself to take his eyes off Gojyo's hair and eyes,

"That's another thing that doesn't make sense. If the apartment is expensive, then how does Goku live there? No offense to him, but he doesn't exactly look like he can afford lunch, let alone an expensive high rise." Gojyo laughed suddenly,

"Oh, he always finds a way to eat lunch. Maybe he works at the apartment?" This seemed plausible, for working there he received room and board.

"Maybe." The bell rang, signaling the beginning of another class. "Well, I'll see you later." Hakkai left unaware of Gojyo staring after him with a bewildered expression on his face. The last class of the day was gym and Hakkai went today, happy at seeing Goku there. The class had been asked last week to bring in a permission form signed by their parent's or guardians, so that they could go bike riding for their next unit. Hakkai since he was new was given the sheet, and then joined Goku, who was taking a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. As Hakkai helped him straighten it out he read the signature at the bottom, a clearly legible 'Genjo Sanzo'

"Why'd Sanzo sign this for you Goku?" Goku shrugged,

"He always signs my things." Hakkai thought this odd, since Sanzo was under eighteen and couldn't possibly be Goku's legal guardian, but said nothing. Once class was over Hakkai said goodbye to Goku and walked outside, soon joined by a grinning Gojyo.

"Hey Hakkai, I got an idea!" Hakkai inwardly groaned, Gojyo didn't seem the type to have normal, safe ideas.

"Yes?"

"Well, the only way to see what's happening to them is to follow them. I don't even know what apartment they live in, so if we're going to do this, let's hop in my car." Hakkai thought quickly and then matched Gojyo's grin,

"That does sound like a good idea." Gojyo's car was a beat up red four passengers, and he quickly put it into drive.

"Sanzo drives a white convertible, you see it anywhere?" Hakkai scanned the schools parking lot, spotting a car that matched that description pulling out.

"There." He pointed it out to Gojyo who floored his own car, and sped out of the parking lot. "Isn't Sanzo going to notice that we're following him?" Gojyo shrugged,

"I don't think so. This engine is pretty quiet, and he'll have enough trouble staying on the road." As on cue the car softened down to a low purr. The convertibles top was up, and it drove quickly through various roads, finally reaching a lesser used dirt one with a squeal of its tires.

"He's not a very good driver is he?" Hakkai remarked this after Sanzo very nearly drove into a ditch.

"This is weird." Gojyo was still driving a considerable distance away to avoid detection, "I've never been out here, but their shouldn't' be any apartments here." Hakkai nodded, this journeyhad gone into the countryside. A building came into view, huge by any standard, and with massive well tended gardens. Fruit trees dotted the yard, and a large pond, but it was the building itself that was impressive. Four stories high and bigger then the school it was made out of brown stone and was impossibly graceful. Ivy climbed up the trellises and a wrap around balcony were attached to the second, third and fourth stories. But these weren't the things that caught Hakkai and Gojyo's eye, but the massive statue of Buddha.

"They live in a, a temple?" Gojyo fought the urge to laugh. Hakkai frowned,

"It looks that way." The convertible pulled around back and Hakkai and Gojyo both exited the car and crept around, watching Sanzo get out of the car followed by Goku. Goku was still chatting with Sanzo, who took no notice, and simply walked in a back door. Gojyo turned to Hakkai,

"Well, we've gone this far." Hakkai nodded and they crept in the door Sanzo and Goku had entered seconds earlier. The hallway was large, but empty, and they saw Sanzo and Goku turn left. They followed them up a flight of stairs before they lost them.

"Damn! Where the hell did they go?" Hakkai made a face at Gojyo warning him to keep his voice down, but it was too late. A large man grabbed Hakkai and Gojyo's arms, forcing them to their feet. He was wearing a priests robe and was bald, but looked anything but compassionate.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Yo! I'm back! Thanks for all the lovely reviews! Ummm, updates may or may not come so soon, I have to try out for the Empire State Games (I'm not going to make it, but I'm still nervous….) Anyways, tell me what you think of this chapter!**_

"_Intruding are we?"_ Hakkai opened his mouth to explain, but was pulled forward by the man abruptly, leaving him no room to speak.

"I can't decide what to do with you, that's up to the Master of the temple." Gojyo tried to shake the man's arm off, but only succeeded in getting it tighter.

"Seriously man! This is just a misunderstanding!" The man took no notice of his protests and continued dragging them, up two flights of stone steps and three hallways. He knocked on a door, and getting a muffled reply from within, opened it. The scene was anything but expected for Hakkai and Gojyo, Goku was sprawled out on a bed, playing idly with a pad of paper and a pen, and Sanzo was at a desk, writing without much interest.

"Master Sanzo, I caught these two intruders in the east hallway." Sanzo's face showed no emotion, but Goku was ecstatic,

"Hey Hakkai! I haven't seen you guys in ages!" Hakkai spoke pleasantly, though a huge priest was crushing his arm.

"Well, it's been almost an hour since gym." Sanzo gestured at the man and he let go of their arms, after which Gojyo furiously rubbed his to get the circulation back.

"You may go." The man left, leaving the unlikely group staring at each other. Gojyo broke the silence,

"You live in a fucking temple?" Sanzo didn't seem to find this amusing, and stood up angrily, revealing what he was wearing. Silk robes went down to his feet, which were clad in sandals. Some sort of scripture was hanging over his shoulders and there was a golden breastplate attached to the robe. Hakkai and Gojyo shared a glance, both looking a little dumbstruck.

"What are you wearing?" Gojyo seemed to be the most talkative of the pair. Sanzo glared at them and answered in a level tone,

"What every single Sanzo priest since the beginning of Buddhism has worn." He sat back down and shook out a newspaper, glancing at them over the top of it,

"What the hell are you two doing here anyways?" Hakkai cleared his throat nervously,

"Well, you can hardly blame us for coming. You both to come to school torn to shreds, and I'm supposed to heal you and say nothing? We wanted to find what was going on." Goku grinned and showed Hakkai what he was drawing, a massive buffet table lined with food.

"Well you came, so now go." Sanzo turned a page of the newspaper with a slight sound. Gojyo started angrily,

"You think you can just tell us when to leave priest?" They were interrupted by a timid knock on the door.

"Come in." A small boy entered, in a robe that went down to his knees and tied around his waist. He opened his mouth and stuttered nervously,

"Master Sanzo!" This came out in a high squeak and the boy blushed profusely before going on, "You have to sign these expense forms sir!" Sanzo gestured the boy forward impatiently, and signed the papers with a silver pen without even glancing at the content.

"Here." He gave the boy back the papers, and he took them with trembling fingers.

"Thank you sir!" He stopped slightly before the threshold of the door, "Is there anything that I can get you sir?" Sanzo rubbed his temple and answered,

"A case of beer, and food for the monkey and these two." He glanced at Hakkai and Gojyo, "Is there anything in particular that you two want?"

"Sake." Hakkai smiled pleasantly, and the boy nodded fervently,

"You got any girls around here?" The boy's eyes widened and he shook his head,

"Women are not allowed inside this temple!" Gojyo sighed,

"No wonder you're such an asshole Sanzo, you never get any release." A loud blast startled everyone in the room, well everyone except Sanzo, who had fired the small handheld pistol.

"You wanna repeat that?" Gojyo backed away,

"You could've killed me with that thing!"

"It would be a public service if you ask me." He stowed the gun somewhere in his robes and pointed to the door, the boy left, almost running out in fear.

"Ne, Ne Sanzo. Calm down." Sanzo rolled his eyes but stopped glaring at Gojyo quite so fiercely.

"So you two really do live together?" Hakkai gestured to Goku, who was busily drawing on his pad.

"Yeah." Sanzo glanced at Goku and then yelled. "You're freaking getting that pen on the sheets you brainless ape!" Goku stopped drawing and then commented,

"Well if you got me food I wouldn't do it." Sanzo slammed down is newspaper,

"I already ordered you food! Or are your ears an underdeveloped as your brain!" Goku grinned hugely, pleased that food was on it's way. Gojyo examined the room and then commented,

"You'd think they'd give you a bigger room, seeing as you're all high and mighty in their eyes." The room was barely bigger then a large closet and had one bed and a desk that was stacked with hundreds of papers and ink. One wall was entirely lined with windows and a small door led out into a balcony that overlooked the huge garden.

"I have another room, I like this one better." Sanzo was immersed in his paperwork again and muttered this to Gojyo absently.

"By the way Sanzo, where'd you get the pistol? Or are they given to all priests these days?" Sanzo shrugged and inked another paper. "I wonder if you can even shoot it properly?" Sanzo shot again, and a strand of Gojyo's hair drifted to the floor.

"Okay, okay!" Gojyo lifted his hands in surrender and Sanzo lowered the gun. The door opened and the boy came in, weighted under a tray of food and drinks. He set it on a small table and Goku pounced on the food, inhaling half of it in half a second.

"Hey, save some of that food for the rest of us!" Goku snatched a huge plate and ran from the room with it, causing Gojyo to run after him screaming obscenities. Hakkai took a sip of sake and smiled, asking Sanzo pleasantly,

"So, are you related to Goku?" Sanzo shook his head and looked up,

"No, thank god." He finished his papers and leaned back in his chair.

"Then why does he live here? He's not a priest, is he?"

"No. He has nothing to do with Buddhism. He lives with me because he has no one else." Hakkai took another sip and watched as Sanzo expertly opened his beer.

"No parents?" Sanzo shook his head.

"He's a heretic. That's why he has golden eyes." The silence in the room was profound. Finally Hakkai spoke,

"A heretic? I thought that was a myth?" He laughed uneasily, "Next thing you'll be telling me there are still demons running around." Sanzo finished the can and set it one his desk,

"Actually, that's another point…" Hakkai stared at him; he would never believe that Sanzo, who seemed so grounded in reality, was actually a raving lunatic. "But it doesn't concern you, so don't worry about it." Hakkai smiled and then the door almost splinted open,

"Give me it back!" Gojyo tried desperately to grab the only remaining piece of food Goku had on his plate, but it disappeared down the small brown haired boy's throat. Gojyo flopped down on the bed and then asked Sanzo,

"Hey man, can I smoke in here?"

"The balcony." Gojyo opened the door and let himself out, lighting up and walking aimlessly down the long walkway, the breeze playing with his crimson hair. He spotted the boy, who had served them sweeping up the leaves and walked over to him,

"Hey kid, why do you worship that guy back there anyways?" The boy stood up straight,

"Master Sanzo has possession of the Seitan and Matien scriptures, two of the five writing's that created this Earth. He has two of these scriptures, and there are only three more people in the Buddhist religion granted the title of 'Sanzo'." He glared at Gojyo, who shrugged.

"So what's so special about these scriptures anyways?" He vaguely remembered the things around Sanzo's shoulders.

"They created this Earth! They're the founding scriptures! Being able to serve master Sanzo is a great honor!" Gojyo backed away slowly from the kid since clearly he was insane.

"What do they do?" The kid calmed down a bit and answered levelly,

"They have the power to banish evil and call forth light." Gojyo blinked, Sanzo had the power to banish evil and he was attending a public high school? "I have never seen Master Sanzo use these scriptures, but I have heard from one who has. He says that it's a sight to be treasured forever." Gojyo shrugged again headed back to the room, done with his cigarette, leaving the kid to continue sweeping. Hakkai was on his second glass of sake and Goku was complaining to Sanzo about being starving.

"Didn't you just eat?" Gojyo asked him,

"That was barely an appetizer! And the monks here never make anything with meat in it."

"Let's go out to eat." Gojyo received a glare from Sanzo at this suggestion, but Hakkai agreed,

"That would be pleasant." Goku jumped at this,

"C'mon Sanzo!" He let up, scowling at all of them,

"Fine, but you guys are paying."


	5. Chapter 5

_Hiya guys! Thanks for all the lovely reviews! They made me sooo, sooo happy! Um, I think I need to lighten up in this story a little, they seem to be going through an awful lot, at an awfully fast pace!_ _Maybe I'll have it go slower? Yes, yes, no? _

"**Fine, but you guys are paying."** This comment was lost on Goku and Gojyo, who had already sprinted out the door. They took Sanzo's convertible to a restaurant, Hakkai driving while Sanzo sat in the passenger seat, after Goku told them all that Sanzo had failed his driving test seventeen times in a row. Sanzo was still glaring daggers at the boy when they pulled in, but he was so excited at the prospect of food that he was oblivious. As they pulled into a parking space Sanzo pulled off his robe, revealing that he was wearing what he had been wearing at school under it. He fingered the scriptures for a moment and then tucked them in his pocket, the restaurant was a popular one in town and was crowded, but once the hostess caught a glimpse of Sanzo she gave them a table.

"Well, at least you're useful for something." Sanzo didn't answer, only looked at the menu and ignored at him, soon a waitress came and breathlessly asked them if they needed anything, Goku started,

"Can I have the mashed potatoes, turkey, three cheeseburgers with bacon…."? The list went on until Sanzo cut in,

"Just get the whole damn menu." The waitress nodded fervently, tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder.

"And to drink?"

"Wait, we aren't finished ordering." Her eyes widened but she nodded and took the rest of the orders. When she had left Goku and Gojyo argued over whose food would arrive first, when Hakkai pointed out the obvious,

"Sanzo's of course. He's the only reason that we got the table in the first place." Gojyo shrugged and winked at Hakkai,

"I dunno. I saw some of those girls looking at you." Hakkai blushed deeply, a fact that he hoped the rest of the company didn't notice, and then asked Sanzo,

"May I ask another question?" Sanzo nodded once,

"Why, if you own the whole temple, do you dress like you do?" He had realized sometime before that Sanzo's clothes were on par with Goku's, torn and old; they had ripped pathetically easily when confronted with the knife earlier. His jeans were a brand name, but were worn, and frayed at the edges, ripped in several places. Hakkai supposed that he hadn't seen the quality of his clothes as soon as he had Goku's because they simply looked better on Sanzo,

"I don't own the temple." Hakkai opened his mouth to speak but Sanzo cut him off, "The temple is my place of residence for the moment. I don't own anything there." Goku grinned,

"You just mean you don't like clothes shopping." Sanzo shrugged,

"That too I guess." Gojyo pointed out a huge platter of food coming towards them and Goku yelped with excitement. As expected, Sanzo's plate was set before him first and he began eating slowly, the only one at the table who could be sure that Goku wouldn't try to take any of his food. The rest of the food took up all the free space on the table and Goku began eating like he hadn't had anything in days. The waitress continued bringing food and commented,

"Hey, you go to my school don't you?" Goku nodded, his mouth full. "Gee, haven't your parents been feeding you in the last year?" Goku answered after swallowing.

"I don't have any parents." The waitress nodded, sympathetically,

"You live in a foster home then?" Goku shrugged,

"I don't think so. Sanzo, is that where I live?" Sanzo scowled at him,

"I wish. No monkey, you don't live at a foster home." Sanzo continued eating and the waitress went on,

"I didn't think you four were friends." She placed another plate in front of Goku and removed four empty ones. Hakkai looked startled, Gojyo almost protested, and Sanzo was on the verge of saying 'we're not." But no one said anything, and Goku smiled happily,

"Yeah! We're best friends!" This cause a huge uproar among Gojyo and Sanzo,

"Hey monkey, who said I was your best friend? You're eating all my food!"

"Ch. Like I would be friend's with you two idiots." The waitress giggled and left, after taking orders for more food and drinks.

"Sanzo! You said two idiots! Which ones of us were you talking about?" Goku looked like he expected to Sanzo say, of course he wasn't speaking to Goku,

"You and Gojyo. Who else?" The rest of the dinner passed peacefully enough, with no gunshots being fired, and once Goku was finished eating the bill came.

"Oh my." Hakkai rummaged in his pockets,

"Monkey! I don't make enough in a year to pay for this!" Gojyo noticed that four fifths of the bill was Goku's food. The waitress looked a little worried,

"Forget the tip, and I'll give you twenty percent off, but then you're going to have to do me a couple favors." She looked pointedly at Sanzo, and then turned her gaze on Hakkai,

"Here." A golden credit card was set on the table, and the waitress took it, looking a little unhappy.

"You have a credit card?" Gojyo set his chair back on the floor, since he had been leaning it against the wall the whole night.

"Obviously."

"Your parents must have left you a fortune if you can handle that bill without even blinking." Sanzo scowled again,

"It's not my money on that card. It's from the three heavenly aspects, communicators with the bodhisattva." There was a profound silence and the card was returned and a tip lay down, then the card was put back into Sanzo's pocket. Goku's face was streaked with the cherry sauce he had on his ice cream and Sanzo told him to wash before they left. He walked to the bathroom and a moment later Sanzo stood, his face expressionless.

"He's calling again." He muttered this and walked to the bathroom, followed by a curious Gojyo and Hakkai. Goku was surrounded by four boys, all of whom Hakkai had seen previously bothering smaller kids.

"You got any money?" Goku shook his head, and the leader of the group yelled when an irate blonde twisted his arm behind his back.

"You want to die?" Gojyo almost laughed at the threat, taking it to be overly dramatic, but taking one look at Sanzo's face he swallowed, the priest was not kidding.

"What, what are you doing here?" The boy tried to snatch his hand away, but it was only twisted tighter.

"That's something I don't think is anything of your business. I'd leave him alone if you don't want to get yourself into something you can't get out of." The boy got an arrogant look on his face and grinned,

"You think you can beat me up, anorexic boy?" Gojyo and Hakkai stifled laughter; Sanzo did look a little on the emaciated side.

"I never said anything about me beating you up. Goku can handle you four on his own." He let go of the boy and said offhandedly to Goku,

"Don't kill them." Ten seconds later and the boys were all immobile on the floor, with a pouting Goku,

"Aww. That wasn't even fun." Sanzo didn't seem bothered,

"We better get out of here before they wake up or someone comes in."

"Gojyo's car is at your place Sanzo, so if we could get a ride back there?"

"Whatever. Come on Goku." They trouped out the door with Hakkai and Goku talking animatedly, and Sanzo and Gojyo both lighting up their cigarettes, the lighters flickering in the evening darkness. On the ride home the top was opened, and Hakkai drove again, after politely telling Sanzo he didn't want to die violently.

"I'm not that bad a driver." Goku laughed, but stopped abruptly when Sanzo turned to him. As Hakkai drove the car expertly and Goku and Gojyo bickered in the back Hakkai asked in an undertone,

"What did you mean by 'He's calling me again?'" Sanzo twitched,

"Nothing." The rest of the drive continued peacefully and Sanzo and Goku disappeared inside the temple, Goku grinning like a maniac as he waved to his new friends. Gojyo started up his battered car and Hakkai stepped in,

"Where do you live again?"

"Huh?"

"Where's the youth hostel, I'm bringing you home remember?" Hakkai shook his head,

"You can just drop me off in the corner here. I'll walk the rest of the way." Gojyo glanced at him sharply,

"No way Hakkai. Just tell me where to go." Hakkai started to open his door, ready to leave,

"No, it's okay! See you later!" He jumped out the door quickly and took off walking down the sidewalk quickly. Gojyo shrugged and left his car on the curb, following the brunette. The door he opened was run down and raucous sounds emitted from the building. Gojyo watched through the building as middle-aged women leaned across to talk to Hakkai.

"Where ya been?" Hakkai shrugged and started to continue walking, but she grabbed his arm. "You know, if an inspector had come by and I couldn't tell him where all the kids were, I'd be out of a job."

"Sorry." He started to walk off but she detained him yet again.

"Sorry? You almost cost me the job!" Hakkai looked her straight in the eyes,

"What should cost you the job is your ceaseless drinking." She swung at him clumsily and he easily caught her hand. The woman, seeing she couldn't get anywhere by force, batted her heavily mascara eyelashes in what she obviously thought a seductive manner.

"Oh, c'mon, I was just playing." She started to trace her index finger along Hakkai's shirt, and he backed away, repelled by her touch.

"Don't try that again." She narrowed her eyes at him and said with drunken loquacity,

"Get outta here." She pointed to the door in a grand gesture. Hakkai stared at her for a moment and then responded,

"With pleasure." He turned and left without another word, leaning outside the apartments frame breathing in air not riddled with cheap cigarette smoke and discount liquor.

"Hiya stranger." Gojyo waved at him, and Hakkai looked up in surprise,

"You followed me?" Gojyo shrugged.

"Just felt like some night air, that's all. So, you got no place to stay?"

"I guess not." Hakkai looked a little depressed, and Gojyo said easily,

"Well, you can always come and stay at my place."


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the break between updates... Two whole days... yeech! Anyways, I didn't quite make it to the empire states, but that's okay because... well, not, it's not okay. Ummm, this chapters a little bloody, but I promise you I'll do my best to make the next one unadulterated fluffy-ness! Okay? Okay!**

_"Well, you can always come and stay at my place."_ Hakkai shook his head immediately,

"I couldn't impose on you like that." Gojyo shrugged again and remarked,

"I don't see how you would be imposing on me if I offered it. Besides, where else you have to stay?"

"Nowhere. Are you sure it's okay with you?" Gojyo rolled his eyes,

"I just said it was. You have anything in there that you need?" Hakkai thought for a moment and then responded,

"Yes. But he'll fly down." Gojyo blinked at this, but didn't say a word. Hakkai went next to the building and stood under a window, whistling softly. A flurry of white flashed through the window and rested on Hakkai's shoulder.

"Gojyo, this is Hakaryu. Hakaryu, Gojyo." The white dragon nodded politely as Gojyo stared.

"This night is getting weirder and weirder. Hello Hakaryu," The dragon nodded again and Hakkai and Gojyo walked off, climbing into the car and staring it up. A short ride across the town led to a modest apartment building,

"I'm on the third floor." He pushed the elevator button, and it then they both entered it, ascending slowly. The building was small and sparsely furnished and clothes were strewn over everything. On the whole it looked a thousand times better the Hakkai's previous home.

"Sorry for the mess." Gojyo picked up the clothes and threw them into a pile, uncovering a couch, chair and table.

"Don't be." Gojyo stopped in the middle of frantically picking up and looked around.

"The couch pulls into a bed. Unless you want the bedroom, cause that's fine with me."

"The couch is more then adequate. Thank you."

"It's no problem. All the stuff was in the apartment when I bought it, the bathrooms through that door, and the bedroom is the one on the right. They're both pretty small." The kitchen and living room were joined, and Gojyo started filling up a pot with water, putting it onto boil. "I'm not a very good cook, but I don't think you can go wrong with ramen."

"Anything's fine with me." Gojyo, after taking the ramen out of a cupboard looked around.

"Shit. You didn't bring any clothes." Hakkai shook his head.

"I really don't have any to tell you the truth." Gojyo went through the pile he had picked up previously, and started tossing Hakkai articles of clothing.

"These are all washed, I just never bothered putting them away. Umm, here this should fit you," He handed Hakkai a green shirt, and then a white button down, and grey pants, then a pair pf jeans. "You might have to roll those up a bit, you're a little smaller then me." Hakkai nodded,

"Is there anything I can do to help with dinner?"

"No. Let the water boil, pop the ramen in until it's soft, mix in seasoning. Even I can handle this." Hakkai leaned against the wall,

"Thank you." Gojyo turned to him, and smiled,

"It's no problem. Hakaryu flew and settled on Hakkai's shoulder, making soft noises. "By the way, what does he eat?" Gojyo gestured to the small dragon.

"Anything that we eat is fine with him." Gojyo nodded.

The next day halfway through the drive to school Gojyo's car sputtered and stopped, cruising to a halt next to the side of the road. Gojyo groaned and got out, Hakkai following. Instead of attempting to fix the car, Gojyo didn't even open the hood, instead he wrenched off the license plates and inspection sticker.

"What are you doing?" Gojyo shrugged,

"The car isn't going to run again. I don't have any money to get it towed, and if they don't have any identification then I don't get a fine. You mind walking the rest of the way? We get can a ride from someone and then I'll think of something."

"Sure." The walk was less then a couple of minutes and they parted way at homeroom, Gojyo waving flippantly to his new roommate. Goku entered the building a few seconds later, holding a towel over his profusely bleeding nose. He headed straight for Hakkai.

"Can you fix this?" His voice was muffled,

"Not here. The bathroom." They both headed out, and Hakkai was thankful they were the first ones to arrive, so no suspicion was aroused, After healing the nosebleed and wiping the blood off Goku's face Hakkai asked,

"What happened?" Goku breathed in deeply, as if unsure his nose was really working.

"The car, the car crashed." He gestured with his hands. "Sanzo was driving, and he must have been in a really bad mood cause he was going really fast, anyways then a dog ran across the side of the road and he swerved and we ended up in a ditch. Now Sanzo's even more mad about the car." Hakkai wasn't concerned with that,

"Is he unharmed?" Goku shook his head.

"Uh-uh. He doesn't wear a seatbelt and he was bleeding, but he said if I ran and got you, then he would kill me." Goku didn't seem very fazed about the threat.

"Where is he?" Goku pulled Hakkai's sleeve quickly, leading him to the back of the school. The blonde had already lit up and was inhaling deeply when he saw the duo cross over to him.

"You stupid monkey! I told you…" he was cut off by Hakkai,

"Ne Ne. You can't be upset at him for being worried." Even Hakkai was worried at this point, blood dripped all over Sanzo and his hair was slowly turning red. His eyes were slightly glazed and his breathing shallow. The cuts were so numerous that Hakkai couldn't even begin to imagine where to start.

"Goku."

"Yes?" Goku was shaking, and his voice trembled.

"Get me something, anything to use as bandages. Get Gojyo, and tell him to help you. Get as much as you can." Goku ran off, leaving Hakkai with the irate and severely wounded Sanzo. He started healing where the most blood was gushing, and kept on until Goku and Gojyo returned with multitudes of clothing. By this time Sanzo was grasping at consciousness and only replied when Hakkai suggested taking him to the hospital,

"You do that and I'll kill you." Most of the cuts were superficial, and he instructed Gojyo and Goku to get real bandages from a store, but since neither had a car it caused a problem.

"Then, I guess we'll have to…" Hakkai thought quickly and then opened his bag, and a white dragon flew out. Since Gojyo had already seen it and Sanzo was too out of it to be interested Goku was the only one whose mouth opened, but he quickly closed it.

"Hakaryu transform." The tiny white dragon became an army green jeep and both Gojyo and Goku jumped.

"Holy shit!" Gojyo's red eyes were opened as wide as they could possibly go.

"Can you drive Gojyo?" Gojyo jumped at being addressed,

"Can I drive a dragon? What the, what the hell?" Sanzo was fully out of it now and didn't even stir when Hakkai tore his shirt to get a better view of the wounds on his chest.

"Just go get the bandages please." Hakkai's voice was strained, and Gojyo nodded.

"Yeah, sure." He walked towards the car with Goku, and they got in, Gojyo testily driving the seemingly normal jeep. In the time they were gone Hakkai got most of the cuts requiring immediate healing seen to, and glanced down at his patient. The whole scene made no sense to him, Sanzo should have died in the crash, and it shouldn't have been possible for him to get up and walk to remaining distance to the school with the blood loss, and then light a cigarette. Everything about the blonde was an enigma; he carried a pistol but was a priest, drank heavily but was holy, and had the respect of his entire temple while being entirely disagreeable.

"We got as much as we could afford. Lucky I got paid yesterday." Goku and Gojyo both had their arms full of bags and Hakkai started to instruct them in how to apply everything while seeing to the gravest injuries. Soon Sanzo was almost wrapped entirely and they looked at each other, covered in more blood then surgeons and crouching on the wet pavement.

"What do we do now?" Goku voiced their problem,

"Should we take him back to the temple? They could care for him better there." Hakkai nodded at Gojyo's suggestion.

"How do we get him into the jeep?" Gojyo shrugged, but Goku picked Sanzo up easily, making both Gojyo and Hakkai stare.

"Which seat?" Hakkai answered,

"Uh, the passenger." Goku obliged and soon they were on their way, Hakkai driving as fast as he could without causing the car to jolt too much. They passed the white convertible, the car was smashed badly and blood was on the rippled hood. The entire windshield was shattered.

"He didn't, he didn't go through the windshield did he Goku?" Hakkai glanced back to hear the answer, but Goku simply nodded.

"Yeah he did. Is that bad?" Gojyo snorted and looked at Sanzo, who was a bloody mess.

"Does that look good to you monkey?" Goku bit his lip as he shook his head, and they finally reached the temple.

"Which way should we take him Goku?"

"The back." The car stopped and they climbed out, Gojyo and Goku carrying Sanzo, who woke up slowly. Once he realized that he was being transported he struggled to his feet, despite Hakkai's protests.

"I can walk." He swayed for a moment and then stayed righted, glaring at the three around him.

"You shouldn't be walking! You're bleeding right through everything!"

"Ch. I'm fine." Sanzo walked in the building, not bothering to wait for the others.

"Does he ever ask for help Goku?"

"I don't think so. Ummm.." Goku scrunched up his face in thought, "No, he doesn't." They followed Sanzo until they came into the room they had been the previous evening and found Sanzo leaning against his desk, panting slightly.

"Should we get a doctor or someone?" Hakkai offered this after watching more and more stains cut through the bandages.

"No." Sanzo was more then adamant at this suggestion, and Hakkai sighed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, hopefully this chapter will make it clear what my pairing's are! To be honest, I always knew what they were going to be, but I know I didn't really show it too well** **. Azamiko, please tell me some of the hints in Saiyuki for shonen-ai, maybe you know some I missed! I hope so, I wish that it would just turn complete shonen-ai and maybe even yaoi! Tell me if you want yaoi, because I'll write it, even if I have to blush the entire time. Anything for you guys!**

"No." Sanzo was completely unmovable on the doctor point. "Do that and I'll kill you all." None of them worried much about the threat, and Hakkai insisted that if he didn't want to get a doctor, at least he'd sit down. Sanzo reluctantly obliged, and soon slipped into a state of half conciseness.

"He should be okay. I healed most of the imminent wounds, and everything else should heal with time." Hakkai gasped slightly, his face turning white.

"Hey, Hakkai, you all right?" Gojyo caught his friend just in time and stared at his prone form blankly. "Goku, you think it takes energy for him to heal?" Goku's eyes opened wide, and Gojyo sighed,

"Why did I even ask you? Is there somewhere I can put him down?" Goku opened a adjoining door, revealing another bed,

"Is this okay?" Gojyo set Hakkai down and then sat on the desk chair, rubbing his temples.

"Yeah, that's fine." He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out the exact moment where the whole day had gone wrong, until Goku interrupted his thoughts,

"Someone's knocking." A loud sound came from the wooden door, and Gojyo stood and opened it. The priest that had caught them the previous time they had visited the temple stood there, and he looked none to pleased to see Gojyo.

"What do you want?" The door was opened merely a crack, not allowing the priest to see the occupants inside. Gojyo felt a slight pressure behind him, Goku was leaning against him, barely coming up to his shoulder. The priest opened his mouth angrily,

"I need to speak to Sanzo immediately."

"Uhh, he's busy right now." Gojyo cast a glance inside, Sanzo was immobile on the bed. The priest looked about ready to hit Gojyo, but restrained,

"Let me in, or I'll be forced to remove you." Gojyo grinned and shook his head, fully expecting the man to attack him. The man reached his massive hand, trying to get his hand around Gojyo's neck, but he simply ducked. He heard the man make a small sound, and looked up just in time to see him step back, rubbing his cheek.

"Don't bother Gojyo." Goku's voice sounded from above him and Gojyo righted, eyeing the man's livid expression.

"There's an emergency that Sanzo must take care of immediately. I don't have to remind you of the gravity of the situation." Goku shrugged,

"Sanzo can't right now." He opened the door a bit, showing the bed where the priest in question lay. The man took a step back and asked in a strained voice,

"Is there anything I should, should get him?" Both Gojyo and Goku looked at each other and shrugged,

"Actually, all I think he needs are a few more bandages and some sleeping pills. I don't think he'll just stay in bed naturally." Hakkai smiled pleasantly and sat up,

"Yes, yes, I'll do that." The man left, and Gojyo asked,

"You okay?" Hakkai nodded,

"Sorry about that. I suppose I used too much of my chi, that's all. Has Sanzo woken up at all?"

"No." As if he was purposely trying to contradict what Gojyo had said Sanzo stirred and pushed himself upright,

"What the …" Sanzo managed to get to the edge of the bed, and Gojyo gave Goku a slight push, whispering in his ear,

"Don't let him get up." Goku looked up for an instant with those bright golden eyes and then nodded, walking over to Sanzo,

"You're going to hurt yourself if you do anything! And Hakkai's too tired to heal you, so…" At this moment Sanzo lost his tenacious grip on conciseness and started to fall forward, Goku caught him but overcompensated and ended up leaving them both spread on the bed, Goku pinned underneath Sanzo. Gojyo saw a brief moment of surprise register on Goku's face, then a second of what looked like happiness before he started to try to free himself, something that proved futile.

"Hey, Gojyo! Help me!" Gojyo shook his head, grinning like a maniac,

"If you move then he'll wake up, and that's the last thing we want. So you're just going to have to bear with it and stay there." Sanzo's golden hair mixed with Goku's brown, and his arm was draped casually across the other boy's waist. A knock sounded on the door and Gojyo opened it, taking the wrapped packages from the monk and shutting the door once he was done. He handed the bandages to Hakkai, who set them on a corner of the desk, then looked at the sleeping pills.

"How do we get him to take these?" Hakkai shrugged,

"I have no idea. I think we can wait awhile before having any though, he seems to be sleeping soundly enough." Gojyo glanced over and saw it was the truth, his breathing was normal and slow.

"Hey, the monkey's asleep too?" Hakkai smiled and nodded, Goku was sleeping peacefully, his hands wrapped around his golden haired idol, a look of complete complacency on his face.

"Now what do we do?" Gojyo hardly felt tired, and Hakkai shrugged, picking up a deck of cards from the desk,

"I guess we could play cards?" Gojyo laughed,

"Sure, but, I have to warn you, I always win." Hakkai smiled,

"I don't know. I have pretty good luck sometimes." A few minutes later Gojyo was gaping at the royal flush that Hakkai displayed for the fifth time in a row, sitting cross legged with an apologetic smile on his face.

"How….how?" He threw his own cards down, revealing a full house, and sighing dramatically.

"Sorry about that. I guess I'm just naturally good at cards." Gojyo thought this was a major understatement since Hakkai had been winning for the past two hours straight. The couple on the bed hadn't moved, and Hakkai looked at them before letting a slow smile spread across his face, making Gojyo turn to look at them also. Their limbs were entangled and Goku's arms were still wrapped around Sanzo's waist, but not tight enough to harm any of his injuries. Sanzo's arm was below Goku's head, and Goku was smiling through his sleep. Gojyo smiled at the scene like Hakkai and commented,

"You think we should take a picture and show it to Sanzo's fan-club? I think it would cause an uproar." Hakkai nodded his agreement and stood,

"I think I'm rested enough to heal up some of the other wounds, and we should probably get him to take a sleeping pill to make sure he stays asleep the while night. Sleep does amazing things to help healing, where as when you're awake, you're almost always going to hurt your injuries." Hakkai flushed, "I'm sorry if I'm boring you." Gojyo shook his head,

"You're not. Boring I mean, you're not at all. How do you think we should get it down his throat?" He hastily changed the subject,

"Hmmm." Hakkai took one of the pills from the jar and held it in his palm, "You hold his mouth open, and I'll put the pill in and then water." Gojyo laughed,

"He's going to kill us if he wakes up." Hakkai didn't seem particularly bothered,

"I don't think he'll wake up." Gojyo tilted Sanzo's face towards them and opened his mouth, while Hakkai dropped the pill in and a small amount of water. "Now close it." Gojyo obliged and Sanzo visibly swallowed before turning back to his original position, making Hakkai and Gojyo each take a breath of relief.

"I'll give it a half our to fully set in and then I'll start healing again."

"Yeah. Man, I'm starving." Gojyo looked at his stomach forlornly, causing Hakkai to laugh. He stopped abruptly when he saw Gojyo's eyes flick up to him and was once again mesmerized by the deep crimson. He asked on a whim,

"Have we ever met before?" Gojyo blinked,

"I don't know. It's strange, it's almost like I know you really well, but, well, I don't know." Gojyo shrugged eloquently and Hakkai continued the discussion,

"When I saw Goku too, it was like I was meeting a friend, but I think I would remember someone like him." Gojyo nodded,

"I felt like that too." He laughed uneasily, "Kinda weird." Hakkai joined in his laughter, and looked down at the floor,

"I wonder where we can get food here? Do you think the monks are all asleep by now?" Gojyo nodded his agreement and stood, commenting,

"I'm not as good at finding food as Goku, but there's gotta be a kitchen around here and we're bound to run into it if we keep going far enough." They crept out into the hall and down the flight of stairs they had come up, then following a long hallway and they traveled down it, finding the kitchen.

"Gee, for pious monks they sure have a lot of stuff." The whole kitchen was equipped with state of the art chrome ware and Hakkai whistled softly,

"I'll say. You think it's right to take their food?" Gojyo opened the fridge, unconcerned,

"Who cares. We're taking care of their leader right? So they, like owe us." Gojyo gave an cry and withdrew food from the fridge, "They've got like, everything!" He stuffed things into the microwave and pushed it on the popcorn setting, leaning back against a counter as it clicked softly,


	8. Chapter 8

_**Okay. Haven't updated in a while, but I'm going to try harder! Yaya! If anyone has ever read FAKE, then please check out my fanfiction there… Same pen name. I have a few more ideas for the continuation of this story, even though it has, as I have begun to suspect, no plot! -Hides in shame- Sorry! Reviews are appreciated!** _

"_Thanks."_ They began to eat the food that was in varying stages of heat, and Hakkai finished first, looking up to glance at his redheaded companion who was eating thoughtfully.

"You know Gojyo, I don't think I know very much about you?" Gojyo looked at him for a moment and smiled, something that looked a bit bitter.

"What did you have in mind?" Hakkai looked up at him while starting to pile up their plates and shrugged,

"Anything you want to tell me. We are roommates after all."

"Yeah. I guess we are. I live alone because I don't have any family. Wait, that's not exactly true. I have an older brother, but I have no idea where he is so it doesn't help me very much. I get money working as a dealer at a casino in town. Now it's your turn. Tell me about yourself." Hakkai smiled as the tables were turned on him and said a bit ruefully,

"I guess I did invite this upon myself. I'm seventeen years old, my entire family has passed away, and now I live with you." His voice was monotone when he spoke about his family, and Gojyo was a bit taken aback at his complete lack of emotion.

"Oh. Then we're kind of the same." At Hakkai's questioning look he explained, "I mean, having no family or anything." Hakkai nodded slowly and stood, placing the dishes in the sink,

"We better get back now." Gojyo followed Hakkai as they navigated their way through the maze like temple, eventually arriving at the wooden door. Opening it silently they crept in, finding the two on the bed in much the same position they had left them in.

"Now to get him disentangled." Gojyo pulled on Goku's hand gently and got them separated after a few seconds work, and Hakkai once again summoned up his ball or energy. The bandages were quickly stripped off as the cuts beneath them healed, leaving a pile of stained clothe on the floor. Hakkai breathed out when finished addressing everything but the minor scratches and sat back on his heels,

"That should be good. He should wake up fully healed." Gojyo appeared by Hakkai's shoulder and looked at Sanzo, who was sleeping peacefully.

"It was the same thing as when I saw him. He just, he looks familiar. I can't, I can't quite place it though." Gojyo's voice held a trace of helplessness and he looked at Hakkai with a slight smile on his face, inviting him to call Gojyo's thoughts crazy. Instead Hakkai looked at Sanzo also and said in the same quiet voice Gojyo had used,

"I know. I know what you mean. It's so strange, so odd, but they both seem to bring something out of the corner of my mind. And you too Gojyo-San." He stood up quickly and laughed, "Maybe we've met in a past life or something." Although his words were meant to be joking they held a slight sound of doubt in them, and he passed one more glance over the sleeping pair before turning away. "Ahh. Sanzo has some books here." He rifled through the titles ad selected one seemingly at random before settling on the other bed and turning to the beginning,

----Hours later (_Because the author isn't intelligent to think of anything else happening between Gojyo and Hakkai….)_ ----

An occupant on the bed stirred and Gojyo woke out of half asleep state to look up. Goku was awake and rubbing his eyes, and pulling himself away from Sanzo.

"He's warm." The voice he used was slightly surprised and Hakkai commented,

"What did you expect him to be?" Goku shook his head and thought for a minute,

"I guess I thought he'd be cold, cause, well I don't know. But then I kind of thought that he'd be really hot." He shook his head again, "That doesn't make any sense." He smiled brightly, "Hey guys, I'm hungry!" They both looked at each other and then were distracted by another stirring on the bed,

"What the hell?" Sanzo looked at Hakkai who smiling pleasantly at him, and then Gojyo and Goku in mid fight and rubbed his temples. Goku blushed a little then but got control of his emotions quickly and whined,

"I'm starving! Sanzo! Sanzo!" Sanzo didn't even look at the boy and instead slid open the door to the balcony and went out, sitting down a few feet from the door to light up. He stayed there for a few minutes until Goku and Gojyo had both reached a stalemate and Hakkai was almost finished with the novel he had started before, and then came in with a gust of cool air, making them realize how stuffy the small room had become with all four of them inside it. He pulled on a shirt and ran his fingers through his hair for a moment, then asked,

"Have any of the priests wanted me?" Gojyo answered his question,

"The big one wanted you. Some matter of extreme urgency." He shrugged, "I think they wanted to give you more papers to sign." He gestured to the mountains of sheets on the cluttered desk but Sanzo ignored him.

"I'll be right back." He left for a moment, leaving Hakkai and Gojyo bewildered and Goku to sit there wailing for food. Momentarily he came back gestured to Goku, "We're leaving now."

"Aww, Sanzo, I'm sooo hungry!"

"And I said we're going, so get the hell up." Goku did as he was told, but clutched his stomach.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gojyo blocked the door while Hakkai stood behind Sanzo, blocking all possible escape routes.

"What the hell do you care?" Sanzo's personality hadn't changed from his car crash in the least.

"Blood loss is a very serious thing. It can cause loss of judgment and dizziness , not to mention…" As Hakkai continued his seemingly inexhaustible list Sanzo rounded on him,

"What's you point Hakkai?" The brunette smiled slightly,

"My point is that you're in no condition to do whatever you intend. Either stay right here or allow Gojyo-San and myself to go with you." He wasn't crossing his arms, but his expression suggested no argument, even though he was still smiling as politely as ever.

"Whatever." Sanzo glared at them both for good measure and started out the door, leading their merry troupe into the night. They reached the back parking lot and settled into the jeep (who had been waiting patiently for Hakkai the whole time) Gojyo and Goku settled into the back, fighting about something inconsequential, and Hakkai driving while Sanzo got shotgun.

"Where are we headed?" Hakkai asked pleasantly.

"Twenty minutes straight should take us to an abandoned warehouse in the city. We're headed there." Hakkai nodded obligingly and started driving, the jeeps light glowing brightly through the dark.

"As long as we're going along, would you mind telling Gojyo and myself what we're doing?" He turned the car at a bend in the road,

"We're killing yokais." Hakkai smiled again.

"Ah." He thought about turning around and instead merely asked,

"Why are we doing this?" The car continued at it's pace and Sanzo answered,

"We're killing them because they've been causing havoc around the city recently. A reported seven murders are directly linked to them. I'm stopping them."

"I see." Gojyo, who had been listening to the conversation as well spluttered,

"Are you fucking crazy? There's no demons here! This is Shangri-La for god's sake. And another question, why would they send out a priest of all things to defeat these demons?" Sanzo seemed entirely unperturbed and answered again, a bite of impatience in his voice,

"Why don't we get there and then maybe I won't have to waste my breath explaining things to idiot kappa's like you." Gojyo was silent for a moment and then asked,

"Kappa? What the hell is that?" Goku piped up,

"It's what you are!" He laughed and then said again, "I'm hungry!" Gojyo wasn't about to be distracted however.

"I believe 'kappa' is the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet Gojyo. Though I'm not sure as what this has to do with you." Hakkai said this while he avoided another car. Gojyo looked at Sanzo,

"Tell me what it means!" Sanzo shook his head,

"I don't have time to waste with idiots like you." Gojyo turned almost as red as his hair,

"Since when are you all high and mighty? You sure as hell didn't look it when you were bleeding to death on the basketball court. Tell me what it means!" Sanzo sighed and looked at him,

"Fine. A kappa is a Japanese water demon. Now shut up." Gojyo looked a little surprised for a moment and then asked curiously,

"Why did you call me that?" Sanzo shrugged,

"It seems to fit you." He hit Gojyo with a white fan that appeared from nowhere, "And didn't I tell you to shut up?"


	9. Chapter 9

_**Okay, i'm back again. Sorry for the long break between chapters. Any ideas (anything at all really) are welcome! I don't know whether to make it go from implied shonen-ai to real shonen-ai and if you guys have any stong opinions please tell me! Thanks for reviewing (It's what keeps me going!)**_

_"It seems to fit you."_ He hit Gojyo with a white fan that appeared from nowhere, "And didn't I tell you to shut up?" Gojyo rubbed his head and complained loudly, but Sanzo pretended not to notice and they drove in silence for a moment before Hakkai turned into the abandoned warehouse. Sanzo and Goku got out of the car, followed quickly by their Hakkai and Gojyo. They grouped together for a brief moment of discussion,

"We'll go in the back and take out all of them." Sanzo took his gun out of the long robes and held it with a practiced hand,

"Yeah, but if no ones here but a couple of people getting high, then we take you and your monkey to a mental asylum." Gojyo still wasn't happy about being whacked on the head with a paper fan.

"Ch. That's not going to be the case idiot kappa."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Shut up." Sanzo turned and walked to the backdoor, opening it silently. They found themselves in the back of a large room with numerous crates strewn about. There was only silence for a minute until they heard the very unpleasant sound of what sounded like a hungry animal eating something noisily. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness they could see plainly the group of demons that were eating something unidentifiable.

"That's just… sick man." Gojyo winced slightly at the sight, an Goku nodded,

"Yeah. I wouldn't even eat that." He looked around when he saw all three of them looking at him with amazement, "Hey! I said I wouldn't eat it didn't I?"

"I think it's simply the fact that you would even think about it that amazes us Goku." Hakkai was still smiling but his eyes were slightly worried.

"Only one thing left to do." Sanzo stepped out from behind their small shelter and shot twice, making two of the demons fall over and the rest leap to their feet. Goku was suddenly amidst the demons and was happily administering blows to those he felt most deserved it.

"Gojyo-San behind you!" In milliseconds Gojyo's attacker was clutching his neck, where one slim knife was located. There was another gunshot and a Hakkai neatly took care of the two assailants coming towards him with a sigh and ball of chi.

"That everyone?" Sanzo stowed his gun somewhere in his robes and looked around, every demon was on the floor or immobile.

"Sanzo?" Goku's voice was quiet and Sanzo turned around so fast that Gojyo and Hakkai were both left blinking,

"What? Are you hurt?" Goku shook his head quickly,

"No, but I'm gonna die if I don't get some food." Sanzo proved that he wasn't picky about who he used his white fan on by bringing it out and slamming it on Goku's head, "Hey whatcha do that for?"

"Shut your mouth and move. I'm tired of listening to you." Gojyo wiped his knife clean and pocketed it securely while ruffling Goku's hair,

"Aww, it's so cute watching you two fight." Sanzo's gun reappeared and shot near Gojyo and another strand of his hair floated down, "What the hell did you do that for?"

"My bad. I thought there was a demon behind you." The gun disappeared again and Hakkai interceded on the fight that was going to begin inevitably.

"Should we get going? I wouldn't want to be caught out here by the local authorities."

"Good idea." They all went back to the car, the evening air cool and damp, prompting Gojyo to breathe in deeply. Walking back to the car was a silent affair and only when the last door had slammed shut did anyone speak,

"I'm hungry!" Hakkai smiled placidly,

"I'm sure Sanzo will give you something to eat soon Goku." Hakkai blandly turned away from the look that was being given to him by the murderous blonde, "He is your guardian after all." Gojyo snorted,

"Where we headed?" Hakkai shook his head,

"I think it would be best for us to drop Goku and Sanzo off, and then go home ourselves." He looked around, and finding no argument nodded.

"Sounds good." Gojyo leaned back in his seat, but was disturbed a minute later by someone rustling through his pockets, "What the hell do you think you're doing monkey?" Goku looked up at him,

"You have food in your pocket. I can smell it." He attempted to get into the pocket again but was stopped by Gojyo's hand,

"What the hell are you talking about?" He dug into his pocket and came up with a granola bar, "You talking about this?" In answer Goku attempted to take the bar, but it was pulled quickly out of his reach, "Gonna have to come and get it monkey!"

"Give it to me! I'm starving!" They continued uninterrupted for a few moments until, BANG!

"Cut it off, or I'll cut you up." Sanzo towered above them and brandished his gun,

"Sorry! We'll stop now!" Both the noisy passengers in the back seat abandoned their conversation abruptly,

"Good going there." Hakkai's voice was quiet, making sure the two in the back didn't hear.

"Thanks. And, thanks for before too." Hakkai glanced over at the passengers seat and smiled,

"It's no problem." They continued the drive in silence.

"Gojyo." Sanzo didn't even turn around to talk to the red head,

"Huh? What's the matter?" Gojyo looked startled at Sanzo talking to him.

"When we get back to the temple, there's a basement with other weapons in it. You can't use knives forever." Gojyo shrugged,

"Seems to me I was doing pretty well with my knives tonight." Sanzo answered,

"It's your life." They reached the temple seconds later and all climbed out of the car,

"So you're coming?" Sanzo's voice held no emotion and in the darkness they couldn't see his face but Gojyo found his tone slightly mocking.

"Yeah. Got nothing better to do." Instead of going in through the door Sanzo opened a hatch and they climbed into a very old dirt basement.

"This place is ancient." Gojyo rubbed his eyes to get some dust out.

"This is a little odd. The main temple didn't look nearly as old." Hakkai glanced around and Sanzo lit the lone torch on the wall.

"The old main temple burned down a while ago, the new one was built on the foundations of the old one." Hakkai nodded his understanding and Sanzo opened a cupboard and waited for the dust to settle. When it did it revealed hundreds of various weapons, including pearl handled knives and an assortment of guns.

"Whoa.. How'd you monks get all this stuff?" Sanzo shrugged,

"Will you just pick something?" Gojyo rifled about the cupboard and in the very back found a staff with a crescent blade attached to it by a chain.

"I like this." He held it easily and it seemed right in his grasp.

"Whatever. Let's get out of here." Sanzo disappeared into the building with Goku behind him and Gojyo and Hakkai were left standing alone.

"Guess we'll go home too." Gojyo nodded and settled into the passenger seat next to Hakkai and they drove home together in companionable silence.

---Next Day----

"Yo, chimp, what's up?" Hakkai and Goku were joined by Gojyo the next morning in homeroom.

"Don't call me that." Goku was still working on his breakfast, and was quickly consuming his third bagel. The homeroom door opened again and a hush fell over the room, provoking the three sitting together to look up,

"God. Who do we have here?" Sanzo ignored the wide eyed looks the girls were giving him and Gojyo's comment, settling on a desk gracefully.

"Good morning Sanzo." Hakkai said pleasantly.

"Ch." Well over half the students in the room were still looking at Sanzo but he ignored it admirably.

"Sanzo!" Goku leapt up, standing before the older teen with alarming speed, "Sanzo!" He stopped before crashing headlong, "I got you these." Goku produced some half wilted flowers out of his pocket, the color a bright gold. "Do you like them?" Confronted with an eager Goku and a room full of people holding their collective breath, Sanzo looked down for a moment and wordlessly took the flowers, causing Goku to grin so widely his face looked liable to split into two.

"Baka. You're supposed to get your girlfriend flowers." Sanzo continued looking at the flowers and Hakkai and Gojyo at that moment both could have sworn that a half smile played at his lips for an instant. Goku explained quickly,

"Well, they were so pretty and they're the color of your hair." Goku smiled brightly again. The bell rang seconds after and they walked together to their next classes, English for Hakkai and Sanzo, science for Gojyo and Goku. Sitting next to Sanzo during the beginning of the set Hakkai felt an urge to say,

"That was nice of you." Sanzo turned to him with a questioning gaze,

"What was?"

"Taking the flowers Goku gave you like that." Sanzo shrugged,

"Baka would've pestered me until I took them anyway. Just saved myself time." Five minutes into class the PA came to crackling life,

"Would Cho Hakkai, Son Goku, Sha Gojyo and Genjyo Sanzo come to the main office immediately?" Silence greeted the announcement and Sanzo and Hakkai finally scraped back their chairs,

"Sorry teacher." Hakkai apologized on his way out, while Sanzo said nothing to appease her for their sudden absence.


	10. Chapter 10

_**I apologize for not updating for sooo long! I dropped my laptop one too many times and the track pad stopped working. Sorry! Anyway, I had to sneak into my older brothers room to write this, and only got a few minutes at a time. Good news, I got a new PC and once it's Internet savvy then I'll have so many updates that you wont be able to keep up! In my haste to update, I might have missed some typo's, so, sorry again! And I don't have a beta, soooo….. if you're willing to help, pa—lease! **_

"_Sorry teacher." Hakkai apologized on his way out, while Sanzo said nothing to apologize for his abrupt absence._ Once outside they spoke,

"Who do you think wants us?" Sanzo didn't look at Hakkai and his voice was low.

"I don't know. I suppose we'll just have to wait till we get there to see." Once they reached the office Gojyo and Goku were already there, having come from a classroom closer to the main office then the other two.

"God. I hope no one finds out I've been hanging out with this chimp." Gojyo remarked playfully to Goku, whose face took a moment to register that he had been insulted.

"Who're calling chimp you stupid kappa?" Gojyo and Goku's fight came to a sudden halt when a voice cut them off,

"Arguing as usual I see." The woman who stood before them had long black hair that flowed down to her back and wore a white gown that contrasted sharply with the dingy interior of the office. Sanzo found his voice first,

"What the hell are you doing here?" The woman laughed, silvery peals resounding around the small room.

"I'm the new principle my dear nephew." The rest of them looked at Sanzo a moment and then back at the women, noticing no traces of family resemblance. "For the rest of you, my name is Kanzeon."

"Nice to meet you." Hakkai smiled pleasantly as always and his words prompted Gojyo and Goku to speak,

"Hey." Gojyo waved a hand slightly, still looking a little bewildered.

"I didn't know Sanzo had an aunt!" Goku waved much more energetically then Gojyo and smiled brightly.

"What do you want?" Sanzo took a seat on one of the chairs, the others following his example.

"I just transferred here, and I got the files on the more troublesome students. On top of that list imagine my surprise to find my nephews name. You," Her eyes traveled to Goku, "don't have much of an academic record you know. Gojyo seems to have been suspended multiple times for.. gambling and underage smoking. Although Hakkai has an academic record that will get him into any college he chooses, his living place at the moment is unknown, since the place the state directed for him has reported him missing." All four shrugged at the same time,

"What are you going to do about it?" Sanzo taunted the lady, looking a little bored,

"That's an interesting question. I doubt suspension or detention would work, and in Hakkai's case it isn't deserved." Hakkai smiled politely,

"What have I done that puts me on this list?" Sanzo took out a cigarette and lit up, right there in the principles office.

"Let's see," Kanzeon flipped through a thick manila packet with Sanzo's name on it, "You have missed twelve state tests, and your 'special' status does not give you the authority to do that." Sanzo inhaled lazily and glanced at her,

"I had better things to do." Kanzeon smiled, something that made the rest of them a little uneasy,

"Very likely. As it is, I think assigning you to service for the school is a fitting result of you behavior."

"Service to the school?" Goku tried to process the words in his mind, but failed, "What's that mean?"

"In two days there's a school dance. All four of you will be there, handing out tickets and serving drinks. You will also be there before the dance, helping the staff set up. In addition, next week there will be four exchange students and I think you four will be excellent guides for these visitors." An uproar broke out in the tiny office,

"You old hag! You don't have the right to do this to me!" Sanzo's cigarette was abandoned in his fury,

"I don't want to go to a dance!" Goku clearly thought this was something that involved pain, since the others were making such a big deal about it.

"What the hell? Since when do you make students do community service for stuff?" Gojyo's chair had clattered to the ground with a loud noise since he had been leaning against the wall during the whole meeting.

"Maa, maa." Hakkai was the only one who didn't seem unduly upset, and tried in futility to calm his companions, "It's not that bad." Kanzeon turned back to her paperwork and dismissed them with a wave,

"Shoo now." They left, two of them still muttering muted curses.

"Sanzo…?" Goku looked up thoughtfully,

"What?" The blonde seemed to be in worse mood then ever, but his tone didn't deter Goku's inquisitiveness,

"What do you do at a dance?" The other three turned to stare at him in shock, Gojyo finally managing to get out through his laughter,

"You haven't been to a dance before?" Hakkai frowned at the red-head,

"Actually Gojyo, I haven't been to one either. I'm not much of a socialite." Gojyo stopped laughing abruptly and looked at them in disbelief,

"Goku hasn't gone, which means Sanzo hasn't gone to one, and if Hakkai hasn't…." He was cut off by Sanzo,

"What does Goku's not having gone to a dance have to do anything with me?" Gojyo tossed his long hair back and answered evenly,

"Well since the monkey follows you everywhere it's obvious that you haven't been to a dance. Besides, I didn't think they encouraged that kind of behavior in temples." Sanzo shot him a glare but didn't answer, proving his thesis correct. "So, none of you have any idea what proper behavior is like at a high school dance." Hakkai looked thoughtful,

"Well I would expect the dress codes still apply as well as the rules about prohibited substances."

"Wrong." Gojyo smiled smugly at them, seeing he had their utmost attention, even the irate blonde was listening, "Dress codes do not apply, or at least are severally lax. Anything short of nothing is allowed, especially for the girls. For you guys I'd say jeans and tight shirts will get everyone's attention. Leather is always good." The three around him shared a glance,

"I don't think I have any of that." Goku looked severely troubled and fingered the frayed sleeves of his shirt, it had plainly been washed so many times that the color was grayish.

"And it's always good to go to a dance a little buzzed." Gojyo continued his instructions as they walked back to class, "You dance better that way."

-That night, a conversation between Goku and Sanzo.-

"Hey, Sanzo?" Goku was hanging upside down off his bed and didn't bother to straighten while he talked.

"What?" Sanzo had finished the seemingly never-ending paper-work, there were no demon disturbances, Goku wasn't being as annoying as usual, and the combination made him more peaceful then normal.

"Gojyo said you needed a date for a dance." The vein in Sanzo's right temple suddenly appeared, his anger at the world returning in full capacity.

"So?" Goku fell off the bed with a loud clatter and then got himself up, shaking his head to dispense of the stars that were taking up his vision.

"So, where am I going to get a date for the dance?" His eyes brightened, "Will you get me one?" Sanzo looked at him briefly before understanding where Goku's thinking had diverted from the normal path.

"Baka. It's not the kind of date that you can eat." Goku's face fell fractionally,

"Then what do you need them for?" Sanzo answered after a moment, having figured out long before that if Goku wanted an answer, he would pester someone until he got it no matter the consequences.

"A date is a person you go to the dance with. A person that you really like." So Sanzo didn't have the best descriptive skills, he still thought that Goku would understand him.

"Oh." He fell silent for a moment. "That's easy then!" Despite himself Sanzo felt mildly curious,

"So who are you planning on taking?" Goku grinned brightly and flopped down on the bed,

"Who do you think?" He seemed to think the question was borderline absurd. "You!" Sanzo didn't get surprised very easily, but now was one of the rare moments when his mind reeled in absolute shock. For a moment anyway,

"You stupid monkey! Does nothing get through that thick head of yours? A date has to be a person of the opposite gender!" Goku blinked, a look of sublime innocence on his face,

"Opposite gender? A girl? I don't know any girls Sanzo, please, please, please come with me! Then you don't have to find a girl to go with either!" For the first time Sanzo wished he had some paperwork to bury himself in, anything was better then Goku's naiveté.

"Shut up you stupid monkey! You need to go with a girl! And another thing, don't listen to what Gojyo says, if you don't want, you don't need to get a date at all." Goku sighed audibly and stuffed his head into a pillow talking softly, and the pillow muffled his words a bit, but Sanzo could still hear with reasonable clearness,

"I still want you to be my date."

_**AN- I know that this chapter is sappy…and I'm sorry. I blame it on the music I was listening to at the time…although I can't quite remember what that is…. All your reviews are the reason I keep writing happily, so thank you all! I think it was pretty much tied on the shonen-ai debate and I've decided to make nothing graphic, and if you wish for a copy of the chapters without any shonen-ai, then I would be more then happy to email one to you. Thanks again! **_


	11. Chapter 11

**_Okay, so i'm basically an idiot and take forever to get anything uploaded... Sorry! Thanks for all the reviews...! Just an odd side note...I HATE SWIMMING! Sighs I do, I really do. o.O I now have an amazing beta, ditch-gospel She takes the time to go through this thing and help out, which is amazing and generous! Thanks! Erm, okay, here's the chapter...hope you enjoy! _**

----Next Day----

As Gojyo joined the others where they had taken to congregating in Goku and Hakkai's homeroom, the first thing he said, with a grin and a twinkle in his eye, was about the upcoming dance.

"So, you guys get any dates?"

Goku looked severely depressed when this subject was mentioned, his normally bright and carefree face falling uncharacteristically gloomy.

"No. Sanzo said I had to bring a _girl_."

He said the last word with such special emphasis that Gojyo and Hakkai couldn't help but share a smile. Gojyo replied with an optimistic tone, offering the bemused boy a grin.

"I don't know about that Goku. We happen to be a very liberal school."

Goku frowned a little as confusion momentarily clouded his already overcast eyes.

"Liberal? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it means that if you're more happy about bringing a _boy_, then I don't think anyone would mind. Actually the fan-girls would probably be all over you."

Gojyo shuddered at his own mention of the psycho females, but Goku had instantly and eagerly leapt on his words.

"You _can_ bring a boy? See, Sanzo? You _can_ go with me!" He grinned so happily that sparkles actually emitted from his eyes.

"Idiot! I am _not_ going with you and that's final! Go find some girl to bother!"

Not one to give up so easily, Goku frowned at his idol and tugged at his sleeve, desperately seeking to change Sanzo's mind.

"Pl---eease?"

Just then, the bell rang and Sanzo practically jumped up from his chair. If he had been anyone other than _Sanzo_, witnesses would have said that he even _sprinted_ towards the door. Gojyo was bent over double in fits of laughter and even Hakkai was laughing openly. Staring after Sanzo forlornly, Goku sighed sadly and pouted.

"Why won't he go with me?"

Hakkai looked at Goku for a moment, considering, and then patted Goku's head sympathetically. In a voice meant to soothe the disappointed boy, he offered a gentle explanation.

"Sanzo's just shy Goku, don't worry about it."

Goku frowned slightly and got up from his seat to head to class, scraping his chair heedlessly against the floor in the process.

"Poor kid."

Gojyo shrugged ruefully as he watched Goku leave the room, sinking more comfortably into his chair.

"I know. But I feel sorry for Sanzo too, though."

Hakkai smiled, matching Gojyo's sorry expression. He didn't look up from his task of gathering together his textbooks as Gojyo turned to gape at him in shock.

"Feel sorry for that twisted monk? _Why_?"

Hakkai smiled again.

"He's obviously confused. But we're already late for class, so I'll explain it to you later."

Patiently ignoring another one of Gojyo's somewhat rude comments about a certain trigger-happy blond, Hakkai stood from his desk and obediently headed off for his first class. ---End of Day---

They were waiting around outside the gym together, all four of them, when Gojyo started passing out the alcohol.

"You want some?" Gojyo extending a can of beer to Sanzo, who took it with narrowed eyes and said,

"What are you giving this to me for?"

"Because I don't want you shooting people in the middle of a dance if it's all the same to you." He offered one to Hakkai as well but wasn't surprised when Hakkai just shook his head. He was, however, mildly shocked when Hakkai asked,

"You don't have any sake do you?"

Gojyo tossed him a full bottle and a then looked questioningly at Goku, "Eh, chimp, you drink any?"

Goku opened his mouth but Sanzo answered for him, "He doesn't get anything stronger then lemonade, kappa."

"Why not Sanzo?" Demanded Goku.

Sanzo looked at him in annoyance, "Because I said so saru."

Gojyo draped an arm over Sanzo's shoulders and commented, "Look how quickly the droopy eyed monk has become the maternal one." He stopped grinning quite so widely when he felt steel pressed against his temple, and raised both palms in a defensive gesture, "I was kidding relax!"

"Maa Maa, calm down!" Hakkai set the bottle of sake down, empty.

"Holy hell Hakkai! Where'd you put that stuff?" said Gojyo, and Hakkai's eyes widened fractionally.

"What do you mean Gojyo? It was just one bottle."

Sanzo looked at Hakkai for a moment and then muttered,

"We may have underestimated you."

Before grabbing another drink Sanzo whacked Goku with the paper fan for attempting to grab a bottle for himself.

"I told you not to drink!" He whacked Goku with the paper fan again for good measure.

"Hey Sanzo! Gojyo said I needed new clothes for the dance but I don't have any!"

Sanzo rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a bundle of clothing, which he threw to the startled boy. Goku pawed through the bundled clothes, finding a pair of dark jeans and an Adidas blue sports shirt.

"Thanks Sanzo!" Delighted, Goku hugged the clothes tightly to his chest.

"I had Yoh pick those up. Didn't want you nagging me anymore then you already do." Hakkai and Gojyo shared an amused glance, although they refrained from saying anything.

They all looked up as a man approached the gym, stopping to question them. "Are you four the ones that are going to be helping out at the dance?"

"Yes." Goku answered, as he smiled happily up at the man.

"Then can you come with me? I'm going to instruct you guys in how to set up the DJ's equipment and the decorations."

Nodding pleasantly, Hakkai stood, and was soon followed by the other three. During the next half hour, they had managed to set up most of the equipment. Goku, however, was excluded from helping with anything important after the occurrence of a certain small incident involving Gojyo and a table:

As Gojyo was laboring under the weight of the large table he and Goku were carrying, Goku was only half-heartily picking his side up.

"Hold your end you stupid monkey!" said Gojyo in exasperation.

"But this is boring Gojyo!" Goku's hand suddenly slipped as he became distracted, swiveling his head to look towards the entrance of the gym. The entire table came crashing down.

"Stupid monkey!" Gojyo stepped back from the fallen table and winced as the crashing continued, "Why'd you turn around like that?" He followed Goku's gaze and saw him looking at all the snacks various people were bringing in. "You have got to be kidding me."

Meanwhile, several of the teachers seemed to be having a hard time giving Sanzo anything to do.

"Umm, can you unravel this?" A teacher timidly asked him, extending a string of multi-colored lights.

"Why does he get all the easy jobs?" Gojyo remarked to Hakkai, watching Sanzo take a few stabs at getting the lights unwound. Hakkai smiled even though he was busy moving a large box and answered evenly,

"I think they're all in awe of him. He does have quite an intimidating personality, on top of being a holy figure."

Gojyo snorted and glanced around the room, noticing Goku sitting at the far end sorting out the balloon colors into separate piles.

"Is that even necessary? It's not like all the balloons aren't going to be mixed together in the end anyway."

Hakkai looked over at the boy, whose face was strained, a sign that he was using his entire mental capacity.

"I think they just needed to give him something to do to get him out of the way."

After an hour of continued work the gym was finally transformed into a dance floor. Afterwards, the four went in intervals to the nearest bathroom and got changed. Sanzo was now wearing jeans and a button down ebony shirt, Hakkai slightly baggy cargo pants and a green polo top, Gojyo a red shirt with small black stripes and khaki pants, while Goku was wearing the clothes Sanzo had already provided for him.

"Hey, Gojyo!" A slim girl called out as she came running up to them, her brown hair pulled back neatly in a ponytail. Gojyo grinned at her and then looked at the rest of them smugly, saying,

"This is Emiko." Emiko smiled slightly, showing her white teeth. Only Goku noticed that these teeth seemed just a little bit too sharp.

"Hello Miss Emiko." Hakkai smiled and extended his hand, which she accepted and shook, her own hand decorated with crimson painted nails.

"Hey!" Goku smiled at her, forgetting about her teeth, and then tugged on Sanzo's sleeve. "Hey Sanzo, can I go over to the snacks now?"

Sanzo looked at him, "Since when do you ask my permission?" Goku took this as an affirmative and happily bounded off towards the snacks.

"Hey, Sanzo, you just going to let your date abandon you like that?" questioned Gojyo with a grin. Sanzo regarded him with a scowl for a moment, as the lights went down and a soft dance tune started playing, before answering back in his usual biting manner,

"Go get bent you damned kappa." And with those enlightening words the great Sanzo stalked off.

"He doesn't seem very happy." Emiko observed, looking at the space where Sanzo had been standing. Gojyo shrugged,

"Who cares?"

He took off with Emiko, leaving Hakkai to himself. Hakkai just looked around for a second, smiled slightly, and then took off to man the drinks. Apparently, he would be the only one actually attending to the 'school-service' as ordered by principle Kanzeon.


	12. Chapter 12

**Long, long break between updates! Thanks for all the reviews (There were few new people, it made me sooo happy) Thanks again for my awesome beta- ditchgospel, who is so supporting! I've been so busy lately it's been hard to write, (school, work, swimming..) but I have the next few chappies already done, so updates will be coming! I have a warning for you guys... there's a strange pairing coming up in a few chapters... if you have any pairings you absolutely do not tolerate, tell me and i'll think about it (if it's the pairing i'm going to incorperate...) it's only going to be one-sided though (not non-consent, just one sided!) I just thought i'd give you the heads up. And I want to pose another question to you guys, who thinks the Goku in this story is too childish to be in an active relationship? (Shonen-ai one...) Sorry for the long A/N, and on to what you guys really want!... **

**Disclaimer- Not mine, never will be. **

**_- Meanwhile, out in the corridor… ---_**

Since the dance head begun a half hour ago, Sanzo had brushed off all offers to dance, and had escaped out into one of the school corridors. Here he had found himself perched quietly on a window ledge with nothing but a cigarette for company, gazing out at the sky.

"Excuse me, but I noticed you didn't seem very happy earlier and I was wondering if anything was wrong?" Emiko came up behind Sanzo with a voice that resembled purring, and he spun around to see who was intruding on his solitude.

"No. Aren't you Gojyo's date?" As Sanzo looked at her, she turned her mouth up at the corners slightly,

"I was. But I'd much rather be with you…" Her lips pouted a little and she advanced on the startled teen, whose eyes had narrowed in response,

"Sorry. I'm busy." When Sanzo turned his attention away from her and back to the window, he felt her fingernails trace along the back of his neck.

"What the hell?" She giggled slightly, a sound that unnerved even the high priest himself.

"You're so tense, Sanzo." His eyes narrowed even more and then widened in surprise as her lips came close to his. He froze, too shocked to move.

"_Sanzo!" _Someone came running around the corner, startling Sanzo enough that he was finally able to break away from the girl.

"Sanzo!" The new arrival turned out to be Gojyo and he looked at Emiko with distaste,

"First you try to kill me and then you go running off for this prick." As he neared, the blood spotting the front of his shirt became more apparent.

"I… I thought I killed you! You should be dead!" The girl's voice turned from its previously seductive purr to a shrill shriek and she took a step back from both of them. Gojyo laughed shortly,

"I'm not as dumb as I am pretty. Plus, I'm one lucky SOB." He turned to look at his blonde companion,

"Did she get to you?" Sanzo shook his head mutely and took out the Smith and Wesson, pointing it at the girl's head with a steady hand.

"Wait!" Someone else came running up the hall,

"Another baka. This just isn't my night." Goku ignored Sanzo's comment and stood in front of the girl, holding out his arms wide to shield her.

"Don't just go killing people, Sanzo!" At this moment there was a collective blink among Gojyo, Goku and Sanzo, as all three of them suddenly felt as if they were experiencing deju vu.

"Why not?" Sanzo took a step back to aim around Goku and at that moment the girl unclasped her necklace. This was the only thing keeping her demon powers at bay, and upon its removal her teeth grew into long, curved and pointed fangs. With a vicious cry of triumph, she attempted to sink her fangs into Goku's skin, but a ball of green chi prevented her attack. As it struck her, it caused her to dissipate into a thousand tiny molecules and disappear.

"Hello all." Hakkai had arrived on the scene. Goku grinned at him,

"Thanks for that!" He rubbed the spot on his neck where the girl's teeth had almost found purchase and grimaced, "I like to _eat_, not be eaten!"

"You can't even find a date that doesn't try to kill us." Sanzo remarked to Gojyo.

"What! What did you say?" Gojyo responded indignantly, but Sanzo just looked at him,

"On top of being an idiot, do you also have a hearing problem?" Gojyo grimaced and then, as Hakkai went to work healing the stab wounds on his chest, asked,

"Hey, Sanzo, you got so depressed about not having a date that you went off to stare at the sky alone?" Sanzo was spared having to answer because just then Goku had leapt up and circled his arms around the priest's neck, exclaiming with a wide grin,

"He has a date!" Goku was only slightly deterred when the harisen came crashing down on his head, followed by Sanzo's verbal rebuke,

"Will you get off me?" Glancing down the hall, Hakkai said in a low voice,

"Better put the gun away Sanzo, it seems like we have company." As soon as the gun was out of sight the sound of footsteps grew louder, becoming more audible by the second.

"Well, well." At the sound of the unctuous voice, Gojyo hissed slightly, recognizing the new vice principle.

"What have we here? Principle Kannon told me to be on the lookout for you four." The man gestured down the corridor,

"Follow me please boys, I have something to discuss with you." His voice was barely above a whisper at the end and it caused Goku to cling slightly to Sanzo.

"I don't like him Sanzo!" Goku's urgent whisper didn't provoke another blow from the harisen, instead Sanzo just glanced down at him, his eyes as distant as always but nonetheless strangely comforting to the little saru.

They were led into a small classroom, where the man took the desk and waved his hand towards the student chairs, indicating for them to sit. None of them did.

"May I ask why none of you felt it necessary to help out at the dance tonight and instead wandered around the school corridors?" No one answered him and he smiled slightly,

"Feel they're above teachers…" The man spoke aloud, writing something in a leather binder.

"Hey, where do you get off?" Gojyo's voice was angry, and he took a step forward. Hakkai stepped in front of the redhead, noticing that his two more irrational companions were trying their best to calm themselves, and by the looks of it, not succeeding very well.

"I'm sorry Sir, but do you have a reason for bringing us here?" The man glanced up, meeting Hakkai's green eyes with his own deep gray ones.

"Question authority repeatedly…" He wrote this down as well before answering the question.

"I do. Your teachers feel that your recent disturbances in their classes stem from a psychological problem. To help this, you've all been given sessions with the school counselor."

"We…we what?" For the first time Gojyo and Sanzo spoke together and the man wrote down on his pad,

"May have a hearing problem…" He smiled thinly,

"Genjo Sanzo?" Sanzo shifted slightly where he stood,

"Yeah?" His voice was suppressed and the vein on his right temple was clearly evident.

"You're the one they're most worried about. Several teachers have voiced their opinion that your young age and your high position as a Buddhist have combined to give you somewhat of an imbalanced personality. Your session is Monday at nine o-clock. It will last one hour."

Sanzo looked at the man with such disdain that even he flinched slightly, and paused to clear his throat before going on,

"Son Goku will follow at ten, and will last only a half-hour. Merely an evaluation because of his absences and the possibility that he's suffering from ADD. Cho Hakkai, a half hour at nine-thirty, simply to check how you're adjusting to the new climate." Hakkai nodded slowly as the man continued, "Sha Gojyo, a half hour session to go over your addictions."  
Gojyo was incredulous, "Addictions?" The man glanced at him briefly,

"Cigarettes and drugs." Gojyo shrugged expansively,

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not into drugs."

"Anything else?" Hakkai's smile appeared genial, but his eyes had a certain iciness to them that made the vice principle a little wary.

"That will be all. I'm just glad I caught you tonight. You still have an hour to work at the dance."

They left silently, albeit for Gojyo slamming the door behind him with a little more force then absolutely necessary.

"Sanzo, he didn't really mean that I'm going to have to see a psychiatrist did he?"

"Yes Goku, I'm afraid he did."Hakkai answered Goku's question with an absent voice, adding,"I don't particularly like psychiatrists, either."

Gojyo turned to him, "You've been to see one before, then?"

Hakkai flushed ever so slightly and nodded.

"Well, what do they do?"

"Ask a lot of personal questions mainly."

Sanzo looked at the green eyed boy for a moment but didn't speak. A slightly awkward silence hovered over the group of boys, but it was soon broken by Goku's complaining,

"Do we really have to stay for the rest of the dance? I'm sooo hungry and there aren't any more snacks out there." Gojyo laughed slightly, poking him in the back,

"That's only cause you ate them all." Gojyo checked his watch, and said,

"I'm all for ditching this place, but then that guy would probably make our psychiatrist sessions even longer, and that's even more of an annoyance."

Sanzo nodded slightly and grabbed the back of Goku's shirt, pulling him along behind him.

"C'mon chimp_, move_!" Goku had, however, set his feet stubbornly into the tile and refused to budge.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Sanzo asked irritably. Goku's face looked resolute, something that made the rest of them slightly anxious.

"I'm not going back to the dance without a date!" Sanzo looked annoyed,

"Are you still going on about that? You don't need a date!"

Goku shook his head, "I do too!"

Hakkai smiled and gently asked the upset boy,

"Gojyo, Sanzo and I don't have dates either, Goku, so you don't have to worry about it." He smiled reassuringly but Goku remained unconvinced,

"But…. Why don't you and Gojyo go together and then me an' Sanzo?"  
This earned him a rare genuine laugh from Hakkai, and a snort from Gojyo,

"The monkey's really got no brains. I can't go with Hakkai, it would ruin my reputation. Whereas you and Sanzo, well, I'll go as far as to say no one would be shocked." Sanzo's white fan crashed down on Gojyo's unlucky head,

"What's that supposed to mean, ero kappa? As I recall, your date ended up trying to _kill_ you." Gojyo shrugged,

"So? We were doing good before that." Hakkai laughed again, and after his fit subsided he said,

"I think we should return to the dance now. We can take turns doing the drinks."

They went back into the crowded gym, where the heat was intense from the whole student body packed in and the music was blaring loudly from the DJ's station.

"Hey! Hey!" A group of girls came running up to them and one asked Sanzo breathlessly, "Will you dance with me?"

Sanzo opened his mouth to reject, but Gojyo clapped a hand over his mouth and pushed him forward.

"He would love to. Go on Sanzo!" He let go of his hold on the priest's mouth, and the girl took his hands in one swift motion and pulled him away with her. Gojyo subsided into fits of laughter but another girl tapped Hakkai on the shoulder, asking,

"Excuse me, but would you dance with me?"

Hakkai's eyes opened wide for a fraction of a second but then he nodded at the girl and they disappeared into the crowd together. Gojyo didn't look as amused then, and a slight frown crossed over his features, much like the one that was on Goku's face. Another girl soon approached.

"Gojyo! You wanna dance?" Gojyo nodded slowly, and, still looking a little annoyed, moved on with her, leaving Goku alone. Suddenly, Sanzo appeared behind him, muttering,

"Damn Kappa." Goku turned his head to look at Sanzo, and the blond asked,

"Where did he go?" Goku smiled widely, "He went with some girl."

Sanzo nodded distractedly and took Goku by the wrist, pulling him closer to him so he didn't have to shout. "Hakkai?"

"Same thing."

The music made Goku feel restless and he bounced up and down slightly, while Sanzo had never bothered to let go of his wrist.

"_Yes_!"

A minor flash went off, making Goku and Sanzo turn in the general direction of the light. A group of girls was staring at them, camera still held in one girl's hand. The girls looked stricken for only a moment when they noticed that the objects of their attention were staring back at them and one said happily, "Just keep dancing. You don't mind if we take a couple more pictures, do you?"

Goku looked confused, but Sanzo was downright angry, even though he realized that his and Goku's close proximity and Goku's bouncing around may have looked somewhat incriminating.

"What the hell? Give me that camera!" The girls looked a little surprised, but got their goofy smiles back in seconds.

"Only if you keep dancing!" A girl with blue eyes said wickedly, holding the camera out in front of her enticingly.

"What the hell is your problem? Give it to me."

She pouted slightly and shook her head, asking, "Aren't you going to dance any more?"

Sanzo scowled at her, not looking at Goku. "We weren't dancing in the first place. Would you give me the camera?"

She handed it over rather reluctantly, and said, "If I were a worse person I wouldn't mind resorting to blackmail. You should be thankful that I'm so nice."

Sanzo stared at her with his penetrating violet eyes and she backed away slightly,

"I'm going, I'm going!" She and her posse left with a few backwards glances and a couple of waves.

"Fan-girls…." Sanzo took one look at Goku's unhappy, widely yawning face and started navigating his way through the crowd, certain that Goku would follow. When they reached the wide exit doors they were met by Gojyo and Hakkai, the former of which had a slight smear of lipstick on his neck.

"What's that?" Hakkai asked as he pointed to the camera. Sanzo tossed it in the nearest trash bin in disgust.

"Nothing."

Gojyo stretched and winced as another song started playing noisily, and said, "Let's get out of here." They followed Sanzo's lead and went out into the night air, which was mercifully clear compared to the air inside the humid gym.

"Goku?" Sanzo turned around, looking for the monkey, who came running out of the gym after them. "Where were you?"

Goku shrugged, blushing slightly, "Someone blocked my way to the door."

Sanzo nodded once, "Okay. What time is it?"

Gojyo again checked his bright red watch, and answered, "Not late. Nine thirty on a Friday night, but man that dance was _lame_."

"Yeah." Goku agreed as he skipped along behind them cheerfully. "Can we go get something to eat?"

In response, Sanzo shook his head, his expression blank, "I need to get some things done before tomorrow."

Hakkai smiled pleasantly, and said, "Well, I'll be happy to drive you home."

Gojyo didn't object and they piled into the green jeep, which gave a small sound before taking off into the night.

**Anyone who spots the quote from FAKE get's a cookie.. and an extra cookie if you say you love FAKE as much as I do also... Review... Ahh.. reviews... I don't hurt the characters if you give me reviews... **


	13. Chapter 13

**Umm, hi again! Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time!**

----Later that night, in Gojyo's apartment---

As Hakkai was busily putting the finishing touches on an essay, he was suddenly interrupted by Gojyo's voice.

"Hey, Hakkai?"

"Yes?"

Hakkai glanced up as he asked easily. He put the pen down for a moment, noticing that Gojyo seemed undecided.

"Never mind. Sorry I bothered you."

Hakkai smiled again,

"You were going to ask why I have been to see a psychiatrist, Gojyo?"

Gojyo laughed ruefully,

"Should have seen that coming. You always know what I'm thinking, and I never have a clue what's going on with you. It doesn't seem fair."

Hakkai looked troubled for a moment before replying,

"I haven't guessed what's on your mind before this, have I Gojyo?"

Gojyo pushed himself into a sitting position on the couch, and said,

"Now that I think about it… no. That's odd. It seemed like you had."

Hakkai shrugged almost imperceptibly,

"To answer your question, I was sent to a psychiatrist after my sister killed herself."

Gojyo winced, red eyes full of understanding and sympathy,

"Sorry man."

"It has nothing to do with you. She was… was kidnapped by a organized crime syndicate and later took a knife to herself."

His voice was toneless and he stood up to retrieve his bag.

"What are you doing?"

Gojyo asked, confused. Hakkai looked at him, a trace of amusement on his face,

"Homework. You do get homework, don't you?"

Gojyo shrugged and stood, walking to his room,

"I have no idea, never being in class. Lately it's been getting more interesting around this place though. Never thought I'd be hanging out with Sanzo-Sama."

He laughed and tied his long hair up with a black hair tie.

"What's the homework?"

Hakkai didn't even look up to answer,

"Just some math. Could you please put that in the laundry basket?"

He still hadn't looked up, but seemed to know that Gojyo had discarded his shirt on the floor.

"What? How the hell do you…?"

Hakkai shrugged,

"You always do it. Just like you always forget to take out the trash."

Gojyo turned around slowly,

"Hakkai…?"

The other man put his math away and looked up quizzically,

"Yes?" Gojyo was staring at him, looking confused and thoughtful,

"You just got here a couple days ago. Trash day is like, once a week. How do you know that I always forget it?"

Hakkai shrugged,

"Don't know. I suppose it just seemed like you."

He took out another binder and began working steadily, leaving Gojyo to lie back on his bed. Hours later, the redhead's eyes opened, and the light in the other room drew his attention. Hakkai was _still _working, even thought the clock read past one.

"For the love of God, Hakkai, come to bed."

As soon as the words passed his lips Gojyo realized what he had just said, and what it not so subtly implied. Hakkai didn't seem to notice and merely answered,

"I'll go to bed in a little while. I just have to finish this essay."

His pen continued working, and after a moment Gojyo got up from bed with a sigh, went into the other room and sat opposite his roommate. He regarded him seriously, sighing again,

"You're crazy, you know that?"

But Hakkai just shrugged, setting down the pen and putting the notebook neatly back into his bag.

"Because I do homework?"

Gojyo raised his eyebrow,

"No. Because you stay up this _late_ to do homework. You could always do it tomorrow, it's Saturday."

"I still have to do the revisions on the essay and check my math again."

Hakkai said placidly, looking up to meet Gojyo's eyes.

"Man, you're obsessed! Do you have plans for the weekend or something?" said Gojyo.

Hakkai laughed shortly,

"Plans? No."

Gojyo grinned slyly,

"But that girl looked way interested in you, Kai. Are you sure you're not meeting up at her house?"

His tone was slightly mocking, but his eyes were eerily serious.

"Positive."

There was a noise at the windows and Gojyo stood to cross over to them, saying dispassionately,

"Just rain."

At these words, Hakkai sat up a little straighter and his face became entirely blank.

"Oi, you okay?" asked Gojyo.

He had noticed the change within seconds and crouched down next to the green-eyed man.

"Hakkai, it's just rain!"

The blank expression didn't fade, however, as thunder came crashing from the sky.

"Hakkai, snap out of it!"

Gojyo thought briefly about overturning a bucket of water on the immobile form of his roommate, but instead just sat next to him, watching as some of the color gradually came back into Hakkai's pale skin.

"What? Sorry Gojyo guess I just spaced out a bit."

The smile on Hakkai's face was once again distant and he didn't blink, looking at his hands like they held the key to his life. He was surprised when a tan hand enveloped his white one, and he was pulled to his feet.

"Gojyo?"

The redhead used one hand to change the couch into a bed, the other still holding Hakkai firmly,

"Go to sleep!"

He pushed him gently and Hakkai obediently fell backwards, landing with a soft sound. "I'm sorry for being a burden to you Gojyo." Gojyo stalked off to his room,

"You're not and don't say it again." The next morning the rain was still coming down in a miserable drizzle and as Gojyo woke up he was accosted with the sharp smell of coffee. Hakkai was already awake, and the bed had been remade and pushed back into a couch.

"Why're ya up this early?" Gojyo asked the green-eyed boy, who was working diligently on his paper, black circles ringed under his eyes.

"I couldn't sleep." He stood and retrieved a mug of the steaming liquid and pressed it into Gojyo's hands, "You don't like anything in it, right?" Gojyo nodded and Hakkai resumed his work, pausing a minute later when the phone rang, shattering the companionable silence. Gojyo answered it,

"Yeah?" The voice on the other end was loud enough so that even Hakkai could hear,

"Gojyo! Hi! What's up?" The other person was highly excitable and added, "Oh, it's Goku." Gojyo cut into the conversation,

"Could you be quiet, monkey! It's a little early in the day for you to be shouting in my ear!" Goku wasn't deterred and went on breathlessly,

"I'm not shouting! Anyway, can I come on over to your place?" Despite his seemingly cheerful tone, his voice sounded a little lonesome.

"Sick of the priest already monkey?" Goku answered right away,

"Of course not! Sanzo's doing monk stuff, and he's not going to be back foreverrrr..." He stressed the last word until his voice wouldn't go on, and Gojyo fought back a headache.

"Monk stuff? I haven't seen him do any of that." Hakkai had stopped writing, and was paying attention to the conversation now.

"Yeah. A ton of priests came over to see him, and he's going to be gone until tonight. Late tonight." He was slightly despondent and asked hopefully, "So, can I come over?"

"Whatever, monkey." Hakkai made a slight movement and Gojyo looked at him curiously,

"What?" He covered the receiver, "You don't want the monkey to come?" Hakkai shook his head and explained,

"You need to pick him up." Gojyo looked incredulous,

"Why?"

"Because he needs a ride. Sanzo doesn't have a car or a license, the monks hate Goku, it'll be easier just to pick him up." Gojyo groaned and listened to the noises coming over the other end,

"Gojyo? You there?" Goku sounded utterly dejected and added, "Great. Alone again." Gojyo spoke into the phone,

"I'm here monkey boy! Don't get all depressed on me. We're going to pick you up in a couple minutes, so be ready when we get there, okay? I'm not going to go running through the temple looking for you."

"You are? Okay, I'll be at the back entrance." The phone was hung up abruptly and Gojyo set back the receiver slowly,

"There goes a peaceful day. I have work at eight to three, so we'll have to give him back by then." Hakkai nodded,

"We should be going then."

---Temple-----

"Hey you guys!" Goku waved cheerfully at the back entrance, causing some of the monks that were out there to scowl at him. One in particular looked at the brunette with such venom that it was remarkable that Goku seemed so oblivious to it. As Goku ran towards the jeep the monk who had looked at him so bitterly stuck out a foot, effectively tripping the younger boy and tossing him headfirst to the ground. The ground wasn't hard, but because of the rain the night before the whole dirt back driveway had turned into a giant mud puddle and it took a few seconds before Goku resurfaced, covered from head to foot in sticky black mud.

"Goku!" Hakkai came running and reached for the teen, grabbing his wrist and yanking him up so that he was no longer in danger of drowning, while Gojyo eyed the muddy creature, "Are you okay?" Goku spluttered for a while in an attempt to speak, but after getting out all the mud that had gotten into his sizable mouth he spoke,

"Yeah, I'm fine." He turned his head to look for the culprit, but the yard was mysteriously empty. "Can we just go?" His voice was slightly bleak but he perked up after an instant, "I'm so hungry!" Hakkai looked at the white dragon that was perched on his arm and sighed,

"I'm sorry Goku, but I'm afraid Hakuryu is rather touchy about his interior getting dirty." Gojyo snorted,

"Isn't that great? We'll go with you while you get cleaned, monkey." Goku looked downcast for a moment but nodded quickly,

"Okay!" He led the way through the double wooden doors and into a hallway, then paused,

"What's the matter?" Hakkai was behind him,

"The only way to get to the staircase is through here but Sanzo and all the high monks are here, and he'll kill me!" He looked worried for a moment but Hakkai put a reassuring hand on his shoulder,

"I don't think he will Goku, after all it's wasn't your fault. And if we move quickly he may not see us at all." Goku was reluctant but finally crept along the back of the huge room, with the other two a few feet behind. All the monks seemed to be congregated in this one room, listening rapturously to someone drone on and on in a monotone voice.

"And we're all blessed by Buddha to have someone so holy among us, and someone who will undoubtedly be here for quite a long time, doing to his extremely young age…" Hakkai looked at Gojyo and seeing the redhead wasn't comprehending, mouthed 'Sanzo.' Gojyo doubled up in a violent fit of laughter that caused some monks to look at them, but it was Goku who blew their cover. He tripped over his baggy jeans and continued slipping on the mud that was pooled around him, until eventually he skidded into a group of monks. Once they saw who had so violently crashed into their midst they were unforgiving,

"Unholy child!" One of them pushed the still slipping monkey and he ran into a few more monks before finally coming to a stop. "Why Master Sanzo would ever take in someone as clumsy and dirty as you is beyond me!" Others chimed in their agreement, and soon Goku was surrounded by a wall of angry and now muddy monks. Goku looked up helplessly with wide, golden eyes. His eyes took in the familiar sight of cream silk robes and blonde hair and he stood up quickly, slipping on the way, and dodged between two monks before he came to rest behind Sanzo, arms encircling the priest's waist, making muddy hand prints,

"Sanzo-Sama." One of the monks whispered at the look he was giving them, before he reached to dislodge Goku's hand, then thought better of it and left it where it was. The look Goku was giving him was pleading and wide-eyed, and after a moment he buried his head into the silk robes to avoid the harsh stares of the monks. Sanzo sighed fractionally and scanned the room, finding Gojyo and Hakkai a few feet away, looking at the sight a little openmouthed.

"Goku." The teen looked up, "I need a new set of robes now, so we might as well go get changed together." The monkey nodded and continued clinging with one hand as Sanzo made his way through the crowd, the monks parting before him.

**Eekk! I don't think this is a very good chapter... Sorry!**


	14. Chapter 14

The font looks odd on the preview page. If it's still odd when it comes up i'll change it as soon as possible. Chapter is extra long. Next chapter will contain a (one sided) pairing that is... rare. If you don't like it when it comes up next time, just tell me in the reviews and i'll re-write it. Review please!

"Goku." The teen looked up, "I need a new set of robes now, so we might as well go get changed together." The monkey nodded and continued clinging with one hand as Sanzo made his way through the crowd, the monks parting before him. Once up in the small room, after the door had closed behind Hakkai an Gojyo, the calmly composed blonde of the floor below gave way for a highly irritated blond.

"You stupid ape! What the hell do you think you're doing, getting covered in mud and getting it on me!" Goku clutched his head, where a white fan had come crashing down.

"Sanzo! I didn't mean to! Sorry!" He dashed past the monk's arm reach, "I didn't mean to! Tell him Gojyo, Hakkai!" Hakkai stepped in smoothly,

"It wasn't his fault Sanzo. He simply got tripped." All this got was a 'ch' and Sanzo threw a towel at he brunettes head,

"Go shower off." Goku happily ran into the other room and Sanzo stripped his outer robe off, revealing a black t-shirt and jeans. "Stupid baka." He added as he rummaged in the small closet for another set of robes.

"It truly wasn't his fault Sanzo. It seems a few of these monks don't particularly like Goku." Sanzo's eyes narrowed,

"The mud. They tripped him on purpose?" his voice was deadpan, but his eyes seemed to be violet fire. Gojyo didn't seem to notice, but the ever observant Hakkai took it all in stride.

"Yeah. Not really nice you religious guys." Gojyo teased easily, leaning against the door frame while the sound off running water came from the adjacent bathroom. The sound of running water and slightly off-key singing. "Which reminds me, who are these people who came to see you, oh great Sanzo?" Sanzo shot the redhead a glare, but deigned to answer,

'Just some religious hypocrites. They come ever year." He took out another robe from the closet and threw it on the bed, taking out a cigarette and inhaling deeply, "The monks bother me till I lecture." He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, the light of the room revealing the dark rings under them.

"Didn't sleep well last night?" Hakkai asked calmly. Sanzo glanced up,

"I guess not." At Sanzo's answer Gojyo laughed,

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the rain too?" He stopped short when he saw the look Sanzo was giving him, and the piercing look Hakkai was bestowing on him. "Gee." He backed away slightly until their gazes were fixed elsewhere.

"You're taking Goku for the day?" Hakkai nodded pleasantly at the question, "Here." Sanzo extended a roll of bills and Hakkai arched an eyebrow. "It's for food." Nodding with his understanding the money was tucked into a pocket of Hakkai's clothes and the shower stopped along with the singing. Soon a very wet Goku came in cheerfully, dressed in soccer shorts and a blue shirt,

"Didn't you even bother drying monkey?" Gojyo asked this when Goku shook his head like a dog, spraying water all along the red head.

"Nope!" He pulled on his socks and sneakers and a jacket before pronouncing himself ready to go with a 'I'm hungry!" Sanzo had pulled on his robes again and winced slightly at Goku's loud voice.

"Just get going already will you?" Goku sprinted out the door before coming back a moment later,

"Bye Sanzo!" He waved enthusiastically and disappeared into the corridor,

"We'll drop Goku off tonight sometime." Hakkai said and Gojyo started out the door also,

"Yeah, whatever." Sanzo paused for a moment, prompting Hakkai to ask,

"Yes?" Sanzo shook his head,

"Nothing. It's just that I won't be back until almost morning." Hakkai looked at Sanzo's weary face and spoke again,

"I don't think that a night of non-sleeping will be very good for you, after not sleeping last night." Sanzo shrugged nonchalantly,

"Whatever."

"Goku is more then welcome to spend the night." Sanzo's face cleared slightly and he mumbled,

"Thanks. I don't want that Baka saru to bother me again." Hakkai nodded and smiled thoughtfully.

"Of course." They left the room and went on their separate ways, Goku clambering into the back of the jeep while Gojyo got shotgun,

"Hakkai?" Hakkai didn't turn around while driving, but answered,

"Yes?"

"I'm hungry!" Gojyo flicked another cigarette into life and spoke impatiently,

"Shut up monkey! We haven't even gotten on the road and you're already complaining!" Goku looked taken aback for a moment and then responded,

"Yeah? Well at least I'm not a water sprite!" Gojyo and Goku continued their friendly verbal abuse of each other until they pulled into the small parking lot next to a tall building. Hakkai commented as Goku leapt out of the jeep,

"There's a meat bun seller across the street Goku. Why don't we go purchase some?" Goku's mouth opened and he raced to be next to Hakkai, pulling him forward,

"C'mon Gojyo!" The red head followed reluctantly, and after they had bought out the entire shop they went to the sixth floor and opened door one hundred and five. The front room was both a living room and a kitchen, the paint slightly peeling but a pleasant yellow color. The couch was second hand and had patches over it in random places, but everything in the room was neat and tidy, a tribute to Hakkai.

"You can eat at the table there Goku." Hakkai pointed to a small white table and Goku obediently sat, popping meat buns into his mouth at an alarming rate.

"Slow down!" Gojyo tried taking one from the sitting boy, but only got a handful of air for his efforts, since Goku had grabbed the meat bun in question. "Hey! Give me one!" Goku didn't answer, but continued shoving them into his garbage disposal of a mouth. Hakkai ignored the fight breaking out and put a kettle of tea on with a resigned air. After all the meat buns were consumed and the tea was drank, Gojyo commented,

"Hey, monkey?" Goku looked up at him, grinning widely.

"Yeah?" He threw himself on the couch, drawing his legs under him.

"I have a playstation if you're into that kinda thing." Goku looked inquisitive,

"What's a playstation? Can you eat it?" Hakkai laughed slightly,

"It's a video game system Goku." Goku shrugged,

"Um, what?" Gojyo sighed and tried to explain, then changed his mind and opened the drawer under the battered TV, revealing the gaming system. He flipped it on and turned the TV on also, popping in a martial arts game. Once Goku understood that you could control your people to kill demon zombies, he was enthusiastic and challenged Gojyo repeatedly.

"Hahaha! You lost lecher water sprite!" Hours later Gojyo was getting increasingly frustrated at his repeated loses and only rose from his spot on the coach when Hakkai tapped him on his shoulder,

"Gojyo, it's seven thirty. Shouldn't you be getting ready for work?" Gojyo jumped up and combed a hand through his crimson hair before donning a black button down shirt and khaki pants.

"Shit!" He took a pack of cigarettes from the counter, ignored Hakkai's disapproving sounds, and headed out the door. "I'll be back at three, but don't you dare still be awake Hakkai!"

"Bye!" Goku looked up from the game for a moment and then looked at the only remaining person in the room. "Hey, Hakkai! You want to be my opponent?"

"Sure." Hakkai sat crossed legged next to Goku and they played for a few moments. While the next stage of the game was loading Hakkai asked,

"Hey Goku? Why do you live with Sanzo?" Those few words had a huge impact on the teen, he dropped his controller and bit on his bottom lip thoughtfully,

"Cause." Hakkai sighed.

"Because why Goku?" Goku answered slowly, as though carefully picking his words.

"Cause Sanzo saved me. I was all alone forever and ever and he took me out." Hakkai's brow furrowed slightly.

"Alone? Where?" The response came quickly,

"It was in a cave on a mountain. Someone said later it must have been a place for prisoners of war, because the area it was in was in a heated battle at the time, but I don't remember any of that." Goku shrugged. "I had stuff on my hands," Here he rubbed his wrists reflectively, "And my ankles, and I couldn't get out for years and years. I wanted, I wanted so much to be in the sunshine that filtered through the bars, but I couldn't make it." He stopped then and sat back, an unreadable expression on his face. Hakkai prompted him on,

"Where does Sanzo come in Goku?" The boy smiled brilliantly,

"Sanzo came, and the bars broke, and the chains melted and I went out on the sunshine with him!" He spoke very fast and very happily so that it took a few seconds for Hakkai's mind to process the words.

"I see. So because he saved you, you love him?" Goku shook his head,

"I probably would anyway, no matter what he was like, but this is Sanzo! After he let me out we stayed at an inn and I had a really bad dream about being back in the cave. When I woke up he was right next to me." Hakkai imagined the scene in his head with Sanzo saying "Stupid monkey! Won't you shut up for one minute and let me sleep?" but Goku shattered this illusion by going on, "He, he just stood by me, didn't say a word. He sat on the edge of my bed until I fell asleep." His eyes shone with utter adoration.

"He did that?" Hakkai's tone was a little skeptical,

"Yeah. He did it every night for a week. After that we were in the temple and I guess I stopped screaming in my sleep, so he didn't come any more. But I still got scared sometimes, and I." Goku blushed faintly, "I would go all the way to his room and he'd move over and make room for me." Hakkai watched the expression on the boy's face, noticing the blush fading rapidly. "Of course, I don't do that any more."

"Don't do it any more because he made you stop coming to his room?" Goku found the brunettes question odd, but answered honestly anyway,

"No. He never sent me away. I just didn't have any more bad dreams any more." Hakkai nodded and noticed the slightly dropping eyes of the younger boy,

"Goku, are you sleepy?" Goku shook his head slowly,

"No…. not sleepy…" His eyes wandered precariously close to closing and Hakkai stood,

"Why don't I make the couch into a bed for you then?" Goku nodded slowly, golden eyes glazed.

"'Kay." The bed was quickly switched and Goku fell down on the pillow with a dull sound, his slow breathing coming to Hakkai's ears.

"I would never have imagined it of Sanzo." Hakkai mused while continuing his fifth revision of his essay. He was having a particularly hard time picking a subject for things he enjoyed, since there had been very little since the death of his sister.

"Hiya." The door was open, Gojyo was leaning against the door, red hair streaming down his shoulders and black shirt smelling faintly of tobacco, perfume and liquor. "Whoa. Monkey's energetic even in his sleep." He commented as a pillow was flung dangerously near his ear from the deeply asleep primate. "Maybe that's why Sanzo…" Whatever he was about to say was cut short,

"Was work pleasant?" Hakkai had fallen slightly asleep in the hours to Gojyo's arrival, and only had awakened when the door was flung open. Gojyo took in the shadows under Hakkai's eyes and the violently tossing monkey before saying lightly,

"You're not going to get much sleep with the monkey, if you planned on sharing with him. Work? Yeah, it was fine." Hakkai glanced over at Goku, who managed to take up the entire area of the couch, and still have all four limbs draping over in some way.

"I don't mind."

"Yeah right Hakkai. We'll double up tonight, and that way I wont feel guilty when you or the monkey wake up bruised. Might have trouble explaining that one to Sanzo." Hakkai blushed softly and nodded,

"You don't mind?" Gojyo shook his head,

"It's no problem. Wouldn't have offered if I minded." He went into the bedroom, followed by Hakkai, and pulled off his shirt, discarding it into a laundry bin after a pointed look from the green eyed man. Hakkai had long since changed into a loose shirt and pants, and followed Gojyo after the man flopped down on his bed and flicked the light switch off with an easy gesture. Before any awkwardness on Hakkai's part had set in he had fallen asleep, breathing softly, his cheek resting against one of his slim arms. Gojyo put both his tan arms under his head and gazed up at the cracked ceiling through the clearing darkness, whispering to himself as he cast a sideways look at the brunette besides him,

"Why is it that you feel so familiar?"

"Hey, guys?" Goku's voice cut off as he looked at the inside of the room. It's wasn't that the occupants inside were doing anything strange, they were simply sleeping peacefully, it was the aura of complete safety around them that drew the earth spirit up short. He grinned briefly and then shut the door quietly, returning to the living room to try to make breakfast by himself.

"Mhhmm." Gojyo's first feeling when he woke up was that he had never felt so completely calm in his life. His second thought was that something was very decidedly wrong. Nothing that was in sight, Hakkai was still immobile, his brown hair and the pillow obscuring his face, but something was still wrong. Very wrong.

"Oww!" Gojyo listened to the words for a second before realizing that Goku was still there, and that the loud proclamation had been followed by a large crash. He jumped out of bed with grace and landed on his feet on the floor, wrenching open the door to take in the scene that lay before his wine colored eyes.

"Monkey!" The kitchen was covered in a thick paste of what looked like flour and water, and Goku was in the middle of it, it was wafting into his hair, and streaks already ran down his face.

"Waaa!" Goku looked close to tears and Gojyo looked around the mess some more, it was obvious the monkey had been trying to cook something, the question was, what in the hell was it? "I'm, I'm sorry! I was just hungry!" He backed away slightly from the enormous mess, leaving his footprints in the flour. "And, and…"

"Good morning." Hakkai was suddenly next to Gojyo, completely calm and eyeing the scene with interest. "You seem to have made quite a mess." Goku looked at the kitchen and shook some of the flour out of his hair.

"Sorry!" Gojyo rolled his eyes, but the monkey did look sorry, his golden eyes were large and apologetic.

"It's okay you stupid monkey. Just don't try to cook anymore." Goku nodded solemnly.

"Why don't, why don't you go to the street vender and buy some breakfast Goku? Gojyo and I will clean up, and after you've eaten we'll drive you back to the temple." Goku nodded enthusiastically,

"Yeah! I bet Sanzo's really lonely without me." He took the bill from Hakkai's hand without another comment and sprinted out the door,

"Why did you say we'd clean up the monkey's mess?" The untidiness was eventually cleaned with much complaining on Gojyo's part, and a lot of bland smiling from Hakkai, and Goku returned and the food was handed out. Piling into the jeep took a few moments, because bother Gojyo and Goku wanted shotgun, and eventually a very sad monkey clambered into the back seat, with a victorious Gojyo laughing at him. Hakkai went at the exact speed limit on the way to the temple, and the ten minutes passed quickly, soon they were parked safely in the back lot, gazing up at the imposing building.

"Well, we better go return the monkey." They exited the jeep, which gave a soft sound and Hakkai patted it's hood fondly,

"We'll be right back Hakuryu." Yoh was in the back foyer, sitting in the corner and looking mournful,

"Hello. Is anything wrong?" Hakkai greeted him. The boy looked up briefly,

"Master Sanzo," He paused, "Seems to be in a slightly bad mood." Gojyo smiled,

"Are the other priests gone then?" The boy nodded.

"They left first thing in the morning. Then all I did was ask Master Sanzo if he required anything, and he told me," The boy looked close to tears, "He told me to go the hell away." Tears trickled down his face.

"Oh my. I doubt it's anything you did." Hakkai tried to placate the child. Goku eagerly chipped in,

"Yeah! If he really was angry he would of said……." What followed was a long list of expletives that Goku recited as if by rote, and Yoh's eyes widened as big as saucers.

"Goku?" Sanzo was at the entrance, eyes shadowed darkly and looking thinner then usual.

"Sanzo!" The energetic monkey threw himself at the monk, wrapping his arms securely around his neck and burying his face in his neck. Sanzo didn't move, but his face relaxed slightly,

"Baka! Get off me!" Gojyo grinned widely and pulled Hakkai along with him,

"Well, looks like you guys are fine together. See ya, ya monkey and you corrupt monk."


	15. Chapter 15

**Wow, it's been like two years. I just found some more chapters of this story in my email from _way back_ and I decided to post them. As I went through the story I noticed how close I stay to the original manga plot, and I wonder if that's a good thing??? Maybe I'll let Gojyo keep his knives... This is an AU, so I should start making it more different I suppose. This chapter is hopelessly cliched (especially the end) and I think that's why I stopped posting in the first place. Oh well. Tell me what you think. Not beta'd. Characters are not mine. **

The next morning Gojyo woke to the sharp smell of coffee, and he blearily ambled into the kitchen to find Hakkai engrossed in the newspaper. Gojyo hadn't slept well, as he had spent the majority of the night tossing and turning. Hakkai had only shared the bed with him for a single night, but it had felt so familiar and so comforting that he had trouble adjusting to the lack of the brunette.

"Good morning Gojyo. I hope you slept well." Blinking in the sharp florescent light of the kitchen, Gojyo yawned widely and poured coffee into a chipped mugged.

"Not really." Hakkai put down his paper and handed Gojyo a coaster, and Gojyo saw his face in the sharp light for the first time. The shadows under his eyes were huge, and his skin was drawn tightly over his pale face. Only belatedly did Gojyo notice the drops of rain against the windows. "But I guess you didn't sleep too good either."

"No. I suppose I didn't." Hakkai turned on the gas for the stove and began expertly mixing eggs in a dented bowl. Gojyo stood at the counter for a moment, feeling useless as he stared at Hakkai while the other boy systematically whisked one egg after another. Then his arms and legs began moving of their own accord, urging him on until he was embracing the slightly shorter boy in a tight hug, his chest against Hakkai's back. After he regained his senses enough to realize what he was doing he registered that Hakkai had gone entirely rigid against him. And then Hakkai relaxed, and drew his arms up so that his fingers intertwined with Gojyo's.

"I didn't..." Gojyo broke off as Hakkai tilted his head enough so that his green eyes met Gojyo's red ones.

"You always know how to do the exact right thing." His voice was soft, and a genuine smile played at the corner of his lips. Gojyo fought the redness he knew was creeping into his face as he breathed in Hakkai's clean scent. His vision blurred for a moment and Hakkai's face changed slightly as the mirage of a monocle appeared momentarily on his face. Then the world righted itself again and Hakkai gently disentangled himself to pour the eggs into the sizzling pan.

The rain abated somewhat during breakfast, but it remained overcast and gray as they clambered into the jeep. Gojyo prayed that the rain would remain a light drizzle until they got to the school, but he was unlucky as always and as soon as they turned out of the apartment's parking lot a torrent of rain began beating down. The jeep didn't have a top, and by the time they arrived at the school both their clothes were soaked and Hakkai was once again looking profoundly melancholy.

They were the first to arrive at homeroom, and the teacher gave them a curt nod as they entered. Other students started to trickle in after a few minutes, but there was no signs off an irate blond or of his monkey sidekick.

"Where do you think they are?" Gojyo was leaning against a blackboard, unaware that chalk was rubbing into his damp shirt. Hakkai was sitting properly at his desk and studiously rechecking his math homework, but looked up briefly to answer,

"I have no idea. He did crash his car, so I imagine that may have impeded the process of arriving to school." Hakkai bent his head again to get a better view of an equation, but then looked up and added, "You have chalk all over your shirt."

"Dammit!" Gojyo frantically craned his neck to get a view of his back, but only ended up toppling over in a show of gracelessness.

"Inebriated so early in the morning?" Sanzo had just arrived and he raised an eyebrow at the hapless redhead. Goku was trailing a few seconds behind the blond, and he took a break from inhaling a donut to laugh at Gojyo. His cheeks and fingers were smeared with chocolate, and Hakkai handed him a tissue,

"Please don't lick your fingers Goku, it's not mannerly." Goku took the proffered tissue and only half effectively swiped it across his face. Little bits of paper stuck to his chin and cheeks but he didn't seem to notice.

"I notice you two aren't wet. Did you get a replacement vehicle?" Hakkai's voice was as unassuming as always, but Sanzo stared at him for a long second before answering.

"Yeah. Someone donated a car to the temple awhile back, and it's better than nothing." The raindrops hit the windows so hard that they were impossible to ignore and Goku pressed his face and fingers against the windowpanes, leaving grimy streaks in their wake.

"You're disgusting, you little ape." Gojyo joined Goku at the window and peered out into the dark parking lot. The sky was so overcast that the light was minimal and the outside world was cast into shadows.

"Am not." Goku's reply was mechanical, and Gojyo noticed that his face lacked it's usual carefree cheerfulness.

"Hey, you tired or something?" Goku shrugged and took a moment to reply.

"It's raining. Sanzo gets sad on rainy days." His face was gloomy for a moment, but then brightened. "You should see the new car." He shaded his eyes with his hand to get a better view of the parking lot, and squinted his enormous golden eyes. "There it is!" Gojyo followed his gaze until he found the vehicle in question, and immediately burst out laughing.

"A station wagon? And is that...?" Hakkai had come up behind him unnoticed and finished Gojyo's sentence,

"Ah, I do believe that is wood paneling." A faint smile played at the corner of Hakkai's lips, and he added after a moments pause, "I've believe studies show station wagons to be generally safe cars. It's a wise choice." Any further comments on the merits of wagons was cut short by someone clearing their throat rather loudly. A teacher stood at the doorway, and was evidently trying to get their attention.

"You four, you're supposed to show the new exchange students around today." Hakkai blinked in a gesture of confusion and said,

"I didn't realize that was scheduled for today." The teacher shrugged and answered,

"They seemed to have arrived a little earlier than anticipated." He waved a group of four students into the classroom. One was a boy with hair a deeper shade of red than Gojyo's, serious eyes and tanned skin. The second person was a small girl with large eyes and curly hair that was the exact shade of a carrot's. Her skin was as tanned as the first boy, and although there was a great disparity in their heights, they somehow managed to convey the impression that they were brother and sister.

The next boy easily surpassed six feet, and beneath the cloth of his shirt a ripple of muscles was obvious. His face was looked like it was capable of friendliness, but at the moment it was set to stoniness. The final newcomer was a girl of average height, her long hair braided down her back. Her eyes were large and warm, and the way she clasped her hands together was the picture of girlish innocence.

"These are Kougaiji, Lirin, Dokugakuji, and Miss Yaone." The teacher glanced down at a file he held in his hand for a moment, "Lirin and Kougaiji are siblings. All four are exchange students from India and I encourage you to make them feel as welcome as possible." The teacher smiled and left the room, just as the homeroom bell rang.

"I suppose it would be more convenient to continue our introductions in an empty classroom." Hakkai was the one who broke the awkward silence that had followed the teacher's departure. Although no one spoke, they all followed his and Sanzo's lead to a nearby vacant room. Once the door had swung shut behind them Kougaiji began speaking,

"I thought I would have to search for you once I got here. It's convenient that you proved so easy to locate." His eyes were locked with Sanzo's as he continued, "I'll spare your life if you hand over the scripture."

** I bet you could see that coming a mile away...**


	16. Chapter 16

**_I'm very sorry that this story runs so parallel to the anime/manga. I just am not that creative. Hopefully future chapters will rectify this. Comments are very appreciated. Thanks! _**_  
_

_"I thought I would have to search for you once I got here. It's convenient that you proved so easy to locate." His eyes were locked with Sanzo's and he continued, "I'll spare your life if you hand over the scripture."_

There was a moment of profound silence. And then the room seemed to spin, and all eight occupants of the empty classroom experienced synchronized deja vu. Hakkai was the first to speak, and his voice was uncharacteristically tentative.

"Somehow Kougaiji, I think that us fighting would be a bad idea." Goku nodded his head energetically at this suggestion and offered his opinion,

"Yeah, Kougaiji! I dunno, but I think it would be better this time if we were friends." Gojyo took his cue next, adding in his two cents,

"I don't know what he's talking about 'this time', but I'd be lying if I said I wanted to fight you guys. Besides, I don't get physical with pretty ladies." He said this with a wink to Yaone, and then added, "Except, of course in b..." Whatever he was going to say was cut off by Sanzo,

"Somehow I know it would be a waste of time to fight you four." Goku smiled at Kougaiji and bounced up and down slightly in his seat.

"So, whaddya say!? Friends?" His smile was enormous, and Kougaiji looked as if he was torn. A flush rose into his face, and he looked around at his companions in consternation,

"Well. I... I don't know. I was supposed to..." Kougaiji's voice was uncertain when he spoke, and his sentences came haltingly. "I was supposed to... But..." His sister looked at him and starting talking in a high bubbly voice, her words tripping over each other in their haste to get out,

"C'mon big brother. They want to be friends! And I've always thought that listening to that creepy guy is a bad idea. Besides, we haven't seen him in ages. Maybe if we just tell them what's going on they can help us out. Right Mister Priest?" She addressed her last sentence to Sanzo, who shrugged and finally nodded reluctantly. Kougaiji looked from one person to the next in the room, and then spoke,

"Fine. Something is telling me that engaging in battle with you guys would just prove tedious anyway." Kougaiji leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Yaone smiled at him happily and he tentatively smiled back at her. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence and then Hakkai broke it,

"Well, if you tell us what your dilemma is, I'm sure we'd be happy to pitch in." He spoke as if they were going to help Kougaiji tidy his room, and Gojyo gave him a disbelieving look. Hakkai saw his expression and smiled encouragingly at his three companions, "Right everyone?"

"Of course!" Goku grinned widely again. Sanzo's right temple started throbbing, but he answered Hakkai grudgingly,

"If it doesn't prove too bothersome." Hakkai shot a look at Gojyo, who shrugged his shoulders defensively,

"Hey, I never said I didn't want to help. I'm not the type to leave a beauty looking all sad." He was looking at Yaone again, and a light blush crept into her cheeks. The taller boy, who hadn't spoken during the entire exchange, glared at Gojyo.

"Your pickup lines suck." Gojyo started to say something back, but Hakkai smoothly interceded,

"Well, why don't we get down to business then? If you could tell us what you needed the scripture for, I'm sure we can come to an understanding." Kougaiji drummed his fingers across the desk and looked like he was choosing his words carefully.

"A few years ago my mother was placed into a cryogenic chamber. My father's mistress wanted to get rid of her, so she had her frozen alive. I've studied enough so that I'm confident I could wake her up again, but there's some ancient scroll encasing her that I don't know what to do with. The head professor at the building told me if I brought your scripture to him, he could use it to break the scroll." Kougaiji stopped his finger's nervous movement and glanced at Sanzo, who looked slightly bored.

"I don't know if my scripture can help or not. I'd have to see her." Hakkai stood up smiling,

"Well, there's no time like the present! I suppose we will have to postpone our tour of the school to a later date." Everyone rose, and Lirin sprang from her seat and attached herself to Sanzo. Sanzo scowled down at her and tried to disentangled himself from her arms.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He was momentarily surprised when he saw her green eyes brimming with tears. "What the hell's wrong with you?" Lirin let go of Sanzo and sat on the floor, holding her face in her hands as she sobbed hysterically.

"I don't know what's wrong with me! I just, you all, you all are so... Don't you all feel like we know each other?!" She began hiccuping, and everyone looked around at each other in confusion.

"I guess you all sorta look familiar. " Gojyo said, "I could've sworn I knew you four when you walked in." Yaone nodded at his words and added,

"I had the same feeling." Hakkai's smile was gone for a moment as he mused,

"I just attributed my feeling to deja vu. But if we're all experiencing it..." He looked over at Sanzo, "Do you feel the same way?" Sanzo drew a cigarette out of his pocket.

"No. You're all crazy." He looked down at Lirin, who had composed herself somewhat and was wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. A quick rummage through his pockets produced a power bar, and he dropped it into her lap. She took it excitedly and tore the wrapper open, stuffing the whole thing into her prodigious mouth. Goku pouted at Sanzo pointedly, until the blond found another bar for him.

"Are we ready now?" Dokugakuji was looking impatient, and everyone shuffled out through the door, and into the still drizzling outside.

"What car should we take? It would be easier if we all traveled together." Hakkai came up with this idea when the were on the parking lot, and then asked Kougaiji, "How many passengers does yours fit?"

"Uh.. Four." Kougaiji pointed over to a small sports car in the corner of the lot. It had a crudely drawn dragon marring its hood, and Lirin proudly announced,

"I drew that!" Sanzo commented dryly at her artistic talent,

"I wouldn't call that drawing." Goku, however, was more appreciative of art.

"You did? Really? That's amazing! Sanzo never lets me play with spray paint. Maybe I could come over to your house and play with it." Lirin nodded her energetic assent, but Kougaiji shot down their idea.

"Absolutely not. I don't need another finger painted 'mural' in my bedroom." Yaone smiled politely and then broke up their disagreement.

"Ah, well. Do any of you have cars that can fit eight passengers?" Sanzo ground his cigarette under his shoe and drew out his keys.

"Yeah. Mine does." Kougaiji looked around the parking lot.

"Which one is yours?" Sanzo turned slightly on the wet asphalt and pointed languorously towards the station wagon. The car's wood paneling was glaring even at a distance, and the bottom half of the body was cracking with rust. There were also some hand painted flowers detailed on the body, a lurid leftover from the sixties.

"You gotta be kidding me." Dokugakuji expressed his opinion of the car in no uncertain terms. Lirin bounded up to it and peered into the inside.

"Oh, cool! The back seats face backwards!" She squinted into the dark interior, "And there's a hole in the floor!" Yaone walked up and joined her, and she eyed the clumsily taped up back window with interest.

"I imagine it would be hard to find a replacement window for a car this old." Was her sole commented and Sanzo shrugged.

"I didn't even try." He had lit a cigarette but the rain started again, the large droplets that extinguished the small flame almost immediately.

"Looks like we'd better all go in this piece of junk if it's going to rain. Jeep doesn't have a top." Gojyo opened one of the wide doors to the second row of seats and took a seat, followed by Dokugakuji. Goku tried to get into shotgun, but Sanzo stopped him with a dour look. Hakkai caught his look and verbalized it,

"Aha, perhaps it would be better if you and Miss Lirin would take a seat in the back row, Goku. You are the smallest." Goku looked rebellious for a moment but eventually opened the hatch and leaped inside, followed closely by Lirin. Kougaiji took a seat next to Dokugakuji, which left Yaone standing rather shyly near the car.

"There's a seat in the middle of the front row." Sanzo told her, and Hakkai gallantly opened the driver's door so she could get in.

"If you don't mind Sanzo, I would prefer to drive." Sanzo made a noncommittal noise and climbed into the passenger seat. Once inside the car Hakkai took a mental survey of the car's controls. "Oh my. I didn't realize this was a standard." His hand lovingly caressed the stick shift. "How fun." He turned the key in the ignition and revved the engine. "Here we go!" The car lurched haphazardly out of the parking spot.

"We're not making a very good impression on our very first day of school." Yaone noted this as she spotted the vice principle belatedly running out of the building to as to what they were doing.

"No. We're not." Kougaiji replied as Hakkai deftly maneuvered around the frantic administrator and changed gears. The car's muffler was broken and the vehicle roared out of the parking lot, emitting clouds of black smoke in its wake. Sanzo manually cranked opened his window a bit so that he could smoke, and the wet breeze created a torrential current of air inside the car.

"If you wouldn't mind increasing the heat, Miss Yaone, I think it would make our ride more bearable." Yaone fiddled with the switches at Hakkai's request, and soon even more air was blasting through the car. The noise was phenomenal, and as they began to race over a particularly rough stretch of the road it became clear that the care was woefully short on shocks and any sort suspension system.

"Oy, chimp, you all right back there?" Gojyo's long hair was whipping all around his face as he shouted to Goku, and the circulating air made his voice scrambled.

"It's like a roller coaster!" Was Goku's enthusiastic answer, and Sanzo was hard pressed to stop the corners of his lips curling upwards when he spotted Lirin and Goku's arms waving in the air from his rear view mirror as they soared over the top of a steep hill.

"Here's where we're going." Kougaiji handed Yaone a scrap of napkin with directions printed neatly across it. Hakkai glanced at it briefly and then quickly cut the steering wheel so hard that everyone was thrown painfully against the frame of the car. Yaone was flung against Sanzo, who ended up burning his hand with the lit end of his cigarette in order to avoid lighting her hair on fire.

"For the love of god Hakkai!" Sanzo threw his ruined cigarette out the window and watched Yaone out of the corner of his eye to see if she was hurt. Finding that she was unharmed but blushing profoundly, he looked out the window again.

"My apologies everyone. I didn't want to have to miss the exit." Hakkai informed them, and Gojyo rubbed his ribs where Dokugakuji had crashed into him.

"You could have turned around Hakkai! That would have been alright too!" Hakkai kept his eyes on the road and tried to avoid getting run over by a mammoth truck that was transporting cars.

"All you all right Lirin?" Kougaiji craned his neck to get a better view of his little sister. She was happily doodling on the steamed up back windshield.

"Of course." She scribbled a abstract drawing of a butterfly and grinned at her brother. "This is so much fun!" Goku seemed to agree, since he was enthusiastically sketching as well, even though he was sporting a bruise from where his face collided with the buckle on his seat belt.

"This location isn't as far as I though." Hakkai said as he changed lanes, almost causing a collision for a car in back of them. "We should be there in a half hour." Dokugakuji was feeling a little carsick, stuck as he was in the middle of a station wagon that was being driven by a lunatic.

"We could be anywhere in the world in a half hour, at the speed you're driving at." Hakkai ignored this comment, too intent on passing someone on the right.

"You haven't been this much of a speed demon when you were driving the jeep." Gojyo said as the car they passed blared its horn at them loudly. Hakkai smiled modestly and answered,

"Well, there is a reason for that. Hakuryu doesn't let himself go over a certain speed. He can also spot what's ahead of him. I don't have much actual experience driving a real car." He glanced back at Gojyo, to see if he understood. Gojyo looked nonplussed, and Sanzo turned towards Hakkai, suddenly curious.

"You didn't by any chance take your road test in jeep, did you?" Hakkai bit the corner of his lip as he accelerated to squeeze into a narrow gap between two huge supply trucks.

"I did, as a matter of fact." The trucks they were between started to edge towards each other, and Yaone closed her eyes certain that they were facing imminent death. At the last possible minute, Hakkai managed to draw a little more speed out of the antiquated car and they were able to jet past the trucks. Barely.

"Hakkai! Those truck drivers are shouting at you!" This report came from Goku, who was facing them and had a clear view. Hakkai craned his neck, intent on listening.

"I don't hear anything." Hakkai said after a moment. Sanzo scoffed at this, because the engine's immense noise was effective at wiping out all but the most offensive noise. Kougaiji tried and failed to get his hands to release their white-knuckled hold on the cloth lining of the seat and muttered,

"I'm going to die here. And I'll never get to see my mother." Dokugakuji glanced at him with concern, but Kougaiji's eyes were too glazed over to register it. As Hakkai continued to weave in and out of cars with no apparent concern for safety, Kougaiji continued chanting his mantra of, "Mother...mother...mother..."

It took another fifteen harrowing minutes, but they finally reached their destination unscathed. Hakkai ended his demonstration in reckless driving and unrestrained road rage by managing to get the car to fly over a drainage ditch and into an unassuming parking lot. The car shuddered for a moment when he turned the key and then spluttered to a stop. The sudden lack of noise left everyone's ears ringing, and there was a moment of silence.

"Well." Hakkai said unnecessarily, interpreting everyone's silence to indicate that they didn't know the journey was concluded. "We're here."


End file.
